Throttle of Metal: Another Brutal Legend
by LordOfSand9129
Summary: Ever wonder if Eddie Riggs wasn't the only one who was transported to the Age of Metal? Meet Lucas Stamen, Eddie's roadie-in-training who has a dark family past and has also been transported to the age of metal. Rated: M for mild language, minor gore, and others more to come. My first Fan-Fic ever. Please R&R. *Update: Chapter 7: Fresh Air And Mosh Pits posted*
1. Prologue: Where It All Begins part 1

**DISCLAIMER: Any and all mentions that have published work (Band Names, Song Titles and Lyrics, etc.) belong to those who own them. I disclaim any acclaim of the game and anything associated with it, except anything that is mine. Stories I create are for fandom and fans everywhere, not for profits.**

**A/N: The POV in the prologue goes from Lucas' first person to third person through flashback 1 and 2 and back to Lucas' first person.**

**_Throttle of Metal: Another Brutal Legend ~ Prologue: Where It All Begins pt. 1_**

Well, I've never thought I would end like this. As the colossal metal hand of the band's giant statue that is a fusion of a heavy metal icon and a boar's worst day ever, a light hit the hand in a way that I began to see what my life was before this whole fiasco happened.

* * *

As day became night, there was a knocking at the door.

_It must be 10 o'clock at night_, thought the old man, as he slow rises from his chair, _Who would be visiting me this late at night?_

As he slowly unlocks he's front door and yells, "Who is it? I don't have anything of value so you should go away!"

But the knocking stills continuing. He finally opens the door to find a violin case and moving basket with an envelope, with _Malcom_ written on it, attached to it. The old man carries both back into his home and reads the note as he removes it from the basket:

_Dear Malcom,_

_ If you are reading this, then I am dead. With this note are both my prized violin, DeS'tiny, and my son, your grandson, Lucas. I know we had our differences in the past, but ever since I married your son, I have never wished ill-will towards you or your kin. Because of this I ask for two things: One, for your forgiveness; I feel that his death was mine own burden. And, two; Please watch over my son. This may seem to be asking a lot of you, but I trust you enough to take really good care of him as you did with my husband when he was young. As for DeS'tiny, I feel you know when best to give it to Lucas. I know I have never said this to another person except to your son, but I wish you to have the best of life when you can._

_Thanks for everything in my life,_

_Jessie_

As Malcom finishes reading the letter, he felt a warmness running down the side of his cheek. He went to wipe he's eyes with his hand; he found tears watering the sides of his face.

_Was I crying this whole time?_ He thought, as he began to put away the letter and opened the violin case of his late daughter-in-law. Malcom felt an energy that he didn't feel since he found his son who went missing for 10 years. The same energy he felt when he saw _Her_, the person who was carrying his mortally wounded son when he found them and the person he would never expect his son to marry 2 years ago. Then he saw it, DeS'tiny. The violin looked like any normal violin except that what seem to be wood but was raven black with deep purple metallic flames, like you would see on any car nowadays. As he flips the violin over to look in awe at the craftsmanship of the instrument, Malcom saw an engraving with golden lettering that looked as it was hand-written into the wood that read:

_**DeS'tiny, the one who plays with the strings of Fate.**_

Underneath the engraving, there was a symbol, the same symbol that was on Jessie's clothes when he found them. As he returns the cursed object back to its case, he kept staring at it, like it was trying to do something, pulling him in. Drawing him in and…..

_Hic!_

_Holy shit! What was that?_ He thought as he jumped a few feet into the air.

_The baby!_ He thought. He opened the basket, he saw his grandson. Not too much older than a few months, laying there in a basket that was lined with a dark purple blanket.

_Lucas Stamen,_ he thought, _He reminds me so much of his father._

As Lucas saw his grandfather takes the younger him to presumably clean and feed him, the world around him slowly dims around him until there is nothing but abyss around him. When all was nothing and black, a hidden amount of anger swelled in him.

* * *

_Why? Why did she have to die? I didn't even get to see her face. What the hell!_ He screams in his head as he felt warm tears of sorrow fill his eyes. Then, out of nowhere, a bright flash of white blankets his eyes as another memory comes to life.

* * *

As Lucas was playing around his grandfather's house, he opened a closet in his room thinking it was a cave he could explore. What he found was an old instrument case, a _violin_ case to be exact. So he takes the case to show his '_GrandD'_ the treasure he found in the cave.

"Looky, GrandD-y, I found a treasure chest!" said Lucas, holding the case up thinking he was that person he saw in the game GrandD let him play.

_What was it?_ He thought, _Ooh, that's right! I'm Zelda!_

As his GrandD turned around, little Lucas went, "Da da di DA!" GrandD chuckled, and said, "Are you still that pers- Where did you get that!"

Startled, Lucas began to sniffled, "I…I-I found it in my closet. I didn't mean make you mad, GrandD."

With a sigh, GrandD sat down in his favorite chair and picked up little Lucas, put him in his lap, as he took the case and set it down on the table in front of them. "Look, Lucas. I didn't mean to startled you, it's just that what is in this case is very special to me, and soon, very special to you."

"What do you mean, GrandD?" said Lucas, with tear-clotted eyes.

"Originally, I wasn't going to give you this till you turn six, but since it's so close to your birthday, I'll let you get this as an early birthday present."

"Ooh, ooh. I hope it's a guitar!" Lucas said, with the glint of wonder in his eyes only children are able to get around Christmas. As Lucas reach for the case, he heard a strange and unknown, yet warming and caring voice talking to him:

_**Yes, please open this so I can see my boy again.**_

"Did you hear that?" Lucas said, "You heard that right, GrandD?"

GrandD, looking confused and concerned, said in a tone only when he knows something, but keeps that kind and gentle smile of his, "What are you talking about boy? Go ahead and open it."

Lucas, more cautious than ever, not because of the bodiless voice talking to him, but the smile and the look he got from his GrandD, slowly open the case….._Click!_ One side down, when that voice spoke again, but this time he could of sworn he heard it before, like it was from someone that was with him since he was born but forgotten them later:

_**One more click, then Mother will reunite with her Son.**_

_Yes, one more click till I get to see mommy… _ He thought….. _Click!_ Then, some strange, but familiar energy was slowly pulling him to open the door of the case. With much glee, little five-about-to-become-6 years old Lucas opened the case to reveal his present from his GrandD….. A violin.

"This was in my closet the whole time? I thought it was a small guitar." Lucas says with a pout.

"But this is not an ordinary violin, Lucas, it belong to your mother."

"My mother?" said Lucas, looking confused.

"Yes. A little after your mother p-passed on, she left you to me. And told me to give you this when I thought you can handle it. But remember, this violin was not made for this world. Do you want to learn how to play it?"

Eagerly, Lucas, making sure he did not hit anything with it or touch it, carefully takes the violin and bow in hand, while in his grandfather's lap, began to play music that was not only calming and joyful, but also played like there was a long lost sorrow that would never be forgotten.


	2. Prologue: Where it All Begins part 2

**_Throttle of Metal: Another Brutal Legend ~ Prologue: Where It All Begins pt. 2_**

Just like the old black and white movies, the memory faded to black.

Ooh yea! That was the best day ever. I think I actually brought it with me today. Why would I even do that when I'm a roadie…? Well, assistant roadie. Lucas thought as he was wiping tears from his eyes again, but not tears of anger but tears of happiness and pure joy. Until he heard that unknown yet familiar voice again:

_**Yes, my child, I too feel the same as you with this memory.**_

"You…**YOU**! What the fuck do you want from me?" Lucas screamed at the abyss around him. "TELL ME WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!" Even though he did expect an answer, but felt that the voice was getting angrier, not just because he yelled, but because he didn't know who or what the voice is:

_**I want you to remember. To remember that one moment, the moment that you felt so much sorrow and despair that it KILLED you. You NEED to remember.**_

"What are you- Oh no. Not that. I do NOT want to remember that!" Lucas said with so much pain and fear, which began the memory to form around him, rather he wants to or not. As the world of the abyss slowing, becoming light, Lucas was spinning so fast that everything was in blur. When the memory finally settled in, Lucas began to slow down until a full stop. His head was spinning but he still knew where he was. In his most powerful memory he has ever had in his entire life, he was standing in a hospital room with a single bed and have practically every life-sustaining machines around the bed. This is when he knew his life was beginning to fall apart. Lucas was staring at his grandfather, his GrandD. He was at his grandfather's deathbed.

* * *

_Don't just stand there_; I thought to myself, as I stand there next to the hospital bed, watching my grandfather, MY GrandD dying _Do something, anything! Just don't stand there!_

"It's ok, son. It's just my time to go..." He coughs twice and began to wheeze when beginning to breath. "It is the nature of life. We are born, we live, and then we die until reborn again." He coughs again, but this time he spat a little blood on the napkin he held up to cover his cough.

"It's NOT ok, old man, it's just not ok. I love you like any son loves his father."

"I know that, boy. Don't you think I know that? I'm just happy that I got to raise you like I did you own father and that I am not dying of that stupid cancer shit. I know, I'm like any other man who can't resist a good cigar every once in a while, but at least I didn't do it 24/7, ya know?"

"I know bu-"

He cut me off right be for I said "but". He always had- I mean -has great timing when someone was about to say that.

"NO BUTS!" He yelled, when he took a deep breath, wheezing all the time. "It is how it is no matter what. And there is nothing you can do but comfort me as I leave this world. I don't want to spend my last breath arguing with you on this."

He slowly grabbed the bag where they had his stuff when he came to the hospital, and pulled a folded envelope with "Malcom" written on it and handed it to me.

"I wanted to give you this before-"He gestured by waving he's hands all over the bed. "- all this happened. This is the letter that your mother had on your basket when I found you on my doorstep."

I opened the envelope, pulled out the letter out and began to read what he had read 19 years ago.

"This letter drove me through every aliment, every down moment we had together…" As I was reading the letter, I was fingering the envelope and felt something that was still in there. I pulled it out as I felt a warm wetness running down my cheeks. It was a photo of me siting on GrandD while playing my mother's violin. "…and with that, I knew that we were going to be alright."

"Remember what I said about that violin?"

"Yea, you said that it was not made for this world."

"Do you believe me?"

"Of course I do, grandpa."

"Grandpa, now it?" *sighs* "I have never thought of you calling me that ever since you gave me the nickname 'GrandD' when you were five."

"Do you remember what the 'D' stand for, you old man?" Tears began to form in my eyes and began to blur my vision.

"I...I don't remember. What was it?"

"'D' was for 'Daddy'. The first word you ever taught me." This time I see him wheezing, not because of the breathing, but because he was crying too. To think, the old man, my grandfather crying. I thought I would never see that view.

"Anyways…" Clearing up the tears with his napkin. Go figure, **sigh**. "What I meant about that was your father told me that when he went missing that he visited a place for metal."

"What do you mean 'a place for metal.'?"

"I asked him that same question, but all I got from him that the place seemed to be in the past but in another world. He said that violin was made in that place and only with that violin can take anyone else back. So, I took that violin and played every song I knew for the violin. From Bach to Therion, but nothing happened. Then, the dumbass finally tells me that it can only work for the one chosen to go."

"Well, crap." It sounded so cool to go to, but alas Underland was only a dream.

"But you listen here; Never give up, no matter what obstacles are in your way, whether it be musical or not. Never. Give. Up. Did you bring what I asked you to bring?" He asked as the wheezing and coughing got worse. I don't know how much time he has left.

With a faint smile, I said, "Yes, I got it right here."

As I turn around, I grasped the handle of the all-too-familiar case that held my mother's violin, DeS'tiny. When I opened the cast, just lying there waiting to be played was my mother's all Raven-Black violin with Deep Purple metallic flames around the chinrest that has signs of use. At the top of the violin, in the middle of the scroll, is a gem. GrandD said it was my birth stone, but I didn't believe him. I did research on the gem and found out it was a black diamond, the rarest one named 'The Eye of Abyss'. When he called me saying he was dying, and asked me if I could play for him before he passes on.

"Good. I feel like listening to something slow but forceful. Just play whatever comes into your head."

"Alright, here goes nothing." Then, just as sudden as a flu- I know bad time for a bad pun –I felt the music flowing through me as I began to play "Unforgiven".

Just as slow as I was playing, GrandD did something I have never heard him do ever. He began to sing:

"_What I've felt, what I've known_

_**Bleep Bleep Blop**_

_Never shined through in what I've shown_

_**Bleep…Bleep…Blop**_

_Never free, never me_

_**Bleep…..Bleep….Blop**_

_So I dub thee unforgiven…"_

_**BBBBBLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPP ….**_

As the last of the lyrics escaped from his parted lips, he moved on.

"How did you like that, grandpa? ...Grandpa? ...Grandpa!" I just help the one person I had left passed on.

_**You still got me.**_

I collapsed, head on his dead knees crying until the nurses started rushing in. Me, 19 years old, just let the only person I have known slip between my fingers.

_**It's alright, son. Everyone can only live for so long.**_

_I know that but… Hold the phone. Who is that?_

_**The one who has been and will continue to be with you.**_

_What are you talking abou- Now look at me I'm talking to a disembodied voice in my head._

_**Well, I do have a body technically. You just set me down over there.**_

Now I'm confused. _There is nobody in here except the rushing nurses._

_***Sigh***_ It just sighed at me. What the hell is this? _**Front.**_

_Ok? Door._

_**Right.**_

_Chair, with my mother's violi-… You mean to tell me that you are the violin?_

_**Yep. Well, technically I'm what am left of your mother's soul IN the violin.**_

…_.WHAT THE HELL? You are just now telling me this? Look, lady, you have the worst timing and the worst sense of humor ever._

_**Do I look like I'm joking to you? Wait, don't answer that! And what your 'GrandD' said about me is true. I am from the past. Your father and mother both used me. But, for right now we just need to live life until the right time has come.**_

_Wait, what do you mean until the right time?_

_Hello?_

_Hello…_

Well, that's just great. The violin hanged up on me. The one time I can get a girl to talk to me and she turns out to be a violin and she STILLS hangs up on me. My luck stinks.

Just a month after the passing of my grandpa, I began to look for jobs, mainly anything with music. First interview I had was for me to be a backup opening act for a music theatre, until they found out that I only played the violin …so they laughed. Ok… So, the second interview was to be a Monday to Wednesday singer for a biker bar… until they found out that it was illegal to hire anyone less than 21 years of age to work for a bar.

Ok, now my life officially sinks. Then I got called by the manger for a band 'Kabbage HeaD'. Never heard of them, but ok. So, I meet up with the guy, he's name was Kevin (with a 'K') Cline (with a 'C'). He always hated that guy because people would want the other guy, not him. Unfortunately, he look like a cross between a short clown and an 80's lawyer, with a pale yellow pinstriped suit and his hair made him looking like he had two little devil's horns on his head.

So we had the interview, as follows:

"_Did you ever do any drugs, weed, or alcohol?"_

"No."

"_Really? Not even to experiment with any of the mentioned?"_

"Really, really."

"_Ok, then! You are hired!"_

"_You are going to be an assistant roadie for Riggs over there. Be here tomorrow by nine, we'll be having one last concert here before leaving on tour. Not here by ten, then you can kiss your job goodbye! Deal?"_

_**Say yes.**_

"You can count on me!"

"_By the way feel free to bring any instruments you want to take, and maybe you'll be able to play with the band."_

I was so excited that I went back to my apparent and started packing.

_**The time is almost upon us.**_

_What?_ Never mind to the weird voice coming from my mother's violin that is ignoring me. And that's when I got the package. As I was packing, I heard knocking at my door. I thought it the nosy landlord. When you talk about opportunists, he is the captain crazy of them. But whoever was at the door didn't stop until I began to open the door. Looked left… Looked right… No one was there. Nothing …but a package that was dropped off way past delivery time on my door step. So, I picked up the package and looked for a return address or something, and all I found was my address and envelope with 'Lucas Stamen' on it. Looking rather odd standing in the doorway of my apartment staring at the mysterious package in my hand, I take it inside since all I have left to pack is my Xbox 360.

Just like any 10 year old boy at Christmas, I tear off the envelope and begin to open the package, when I had the sudden urge to open the envelope first. So, I did and read the letter with in, it wasn't much of a letter but I still read it:

_Lucas Stamen,_

_ I think it would be in your best nature to play this game_

_Jeschum_

Well, that's not spooky at all. But, they did say there was a game in here and what single man can resist a free video game. Let's just hope it is for the right system. Low and behold, it was. Some game called "Brutal Legend".

*Insert girly fandom face here* Not only this is the bestselling game of this time, but you have to reserve one months in advance to even DEMO the blasted thing. Well, what do you think I did? I started to play the sucker. Pop it right in the Xbox and started to play it.

Love the intro. _This better not be a demo_.

Finally, gets play for a few minutes, find out who your character is… Eddie Roads- um no that's not right Iggs or something like that, when the worst of my luck finally hit me… I fell asleep. What do you expect when I rushed to do everything?

_**The time is almost upon us to return home, my child. It is time to wake up.**_

Hun, what? Oh. I finally wake up when my alarm clock. I find my stuff has been moved. My TV is off, Xbox packed up, and my stuff sitting neatly, waiting for me… either there is a team of ninja maids or I did this… I didn't give it much thought because I just check the time… _8:55am_. Aw, crap. So I took off like a bat out of hell to the theater, where the band was playing at.

Finally, pulled up to the theater… _**Maximum Throttle Theater**_. Wow, sounds like when a biker gang goes out to buy an opera. Anyways, made it… With 5 minutes to spar! Dam I'm good. So, I got my violin case and my duffle bag out of the back of the car. I noticed on the play board said that some band named 'Kabbage Boy' was playing. Huh, must be one of the band members could not make it today. Sad, really sad. Walked into the building and what do you know, it was an opera theater… I hate it when I am right. Well, at least half-right.

Then, here he comes. Kevin Cline comes walking, more like waddling on the count of him and his 'short' stature, and says, "Well, look who's finally shown up! Look, kid. We got some last minute changes happening tonight."

"Yes, sir. I saw the board out front and it says some band named 'Kabbage Boy' will be playing tonight."

"Yea, that's the main change right now. Look, in this business, we don't have time for formal mumble-jumble. Just call me Kevin or Mr. C, k?"

Well, talk about first impressions. "Yea, ok."

"Well, the only change right now you have to worry about is the name from _'Kabbage HeaD'_ to _'Kabbage Boy_'. Riggs over there will help you for now. What you have to worry about now if he needs help. Got it?"

'_Kabbage Boy', where have I heard that name before?_ "You got it."

"Good." As he waddles back over to the bouncers, I make my way to this Riggs person. Seriously, where in the world have I heard that name before? When I went to the place where Mr. C told me where Riggs is, some scruffy guy with a shirt that had the band _'Black Sabbath'_ written on it was standing there. Well, this must be the guy. So I asked him. "Me, Riggs? Ha, I'm not him," As he points his thumb above us, and there he is. With black mirrored goggles on, while using a blowtorch, shaping the metal to form a shoulder piece for an all-metal statue. He stops to hear the person beside me yelling, "Yo, Riggs! Get down here, there's someone here to meet you!"

"Ok be down in a minute!" As soon as the last syllable escaped his mouth, he came jumping from the shadows to the right of us. As I took a good look at the guy, mullet; mutton-chops; rugged stature and clothes; big guy, I could go on, he stood before me. Eddie Riggs, not a man but a master.

_**And there he is, the son of Succoria.**_

_Again, what?_ "Whoa, how did you do that?"

"What? That? Roadie's trade secret. And you must be the roadie-in-trading Mr. C told me about. The name's Eddie. Eddie Riggs."

_And, there is it again. I know I've heard that somewhere._ But, where? "Yea, name's Lucas Stamen."

"I see you got a case. What instrument do you play?"

"Not something too flashy. A violin."

"Ooh, never met a violin rocker before. Well, I'm almost done with this prop. So, you're pretty much free the rest of the night and training starts tomorrow. Ok?"

"You got it." Man, to come here, almost late, and find out I have nothing to do today. Well, the only thing to do is practice.

So, I sat down in a room, not too far away in case they needed help and not too much close that I will be in the way, and began to play. Slowly at first, just to tune the strings, then started to play my favorite songs. Slowly, one by one at first, people began to fill the room just to hear my music. I knew I was doing great, conformation was from Eddie, as he stood in the doorway, saw all the people, and gave me thumbs up while I was playing. When I finished, everyone started clapping. This has definitely been my best job ever.

After a couple of minutes of more violin plays, the actual band finally shows up. 'Kabbage Boy'. I kind of expected them to be these long haired, head banging, metal heroes that played like gods. Nope, I was wrong.

They were practically the same age as me, not much older. Like teenagers that just got out of college, greasy hair, bad cologne, always texting someone about something. I'm glad I have never turned into something like that.

A few seconds before show time, I found I nice spot where I can practice with my violin some more while still able to see the crowd who came to see the band play. I noticed the band walking past Eddie – Ok I swear I know him from something – and the guy I was talking to earlier. They were talking about something, something the upset Eddie, but he pfht it to the side and ignored them. And so, as the concert opens and the music beginning to play, it started to sound alright, maybe…just maybe…

_"Girlfriend!"_ and the rap start to happen… oh shit.

When I was about to leave, I saw Eddie started to curse something- unfortunately, the concert was too loud to hear what he said –and saw what he was cursing about. The bass guitarist, being the dumbass he is, start to dance on top of the metal behemoth Eddie built just a few hours ago. Just as this fool start to play, he slips and is now dangling from one of the attached pieces, just hanging by his fingers. Eddie started to dash toward the hanging fool. I was about to follow when the guy who was with Eddie, held me back and said, "Just watch." As the fool watched, Eddie signaled him to drop the guitar. When he did, Eddie caught it just a few seconds short before it smashed on the ground. And just like any other cliffhanger, the bassist loses his grip. He began to fall with such fluidity; right up until the big, rugged man caught him.

It was then that I knew Eddie is the best roadie ever… up until the rest of the metal crushed Eddie flat.

Just as the entire theater stopped in horror over the calamity, up from the debris, came a magnificent roar of a mighty beast. As a metal behemoth came rising from the ground, a smaller version of the monument behind it, with a fiery red glow out of its mouth, nose, and eyes, it start to go on a rampage inside the theater. The beast knocked the debris off of Eddie's dead body, and took a closer exam, then saw the band. As the band frightened as hell, I noticed a golden glow from the back of my violin, there was something beginning to be engraved underneath the first:

_**DeS'tiny, the one who plays the strings of Fate…**_

_** But never temps her twice.**_

I looked up just in time to see the colossus roar at the rest of the band, and melted their faces off. At least I'm not the one who has to clean this up. After it had its fun with the band it cleared a spot to lay down Eddie's body, it turned its anger toward the crowd. As the dumbass that started this whole fiasco ran past me, and tell me to help the others. So I did the bravest thing I could think of… I took a piece of debris and threw it at its face. What? I said I did the bravest, not the smartest thing. As the colossal metal hand of the band's giant statue that is a fusion of a heavy metal icon and a boar's worst day ever, a light hit the hand in a way that I began to see what my life was before this whole fiasco happened, and just in a nick of time, reality focused back in. It punched me so hard it was like I got hit with a big rig. As I flew from the force of the punch, my mother's violin began to speak again:

_**Do not worry, my son. You are not dead. You have been transported back to our home. The beast that was released is called The Eternal Fire Beast, Ormagöden. I knew it would sense me, for I am Jeschum; Demon Temptress of Fate of the Tainted Coil and I am your mother.**_

As the speed of my 'flight' began to slow down, I felt a soft thud. I started to move around, feeling the mucky ground I lay upon… Wait, mucky?

I wake up to find myself, not in a human-sized crater in the parking lot near by, but in a cold, dark place where I see mountains of bones and metal growing out of the ground. It's just like if I were in the album of one of my metal records… Awesome!

_**Welcome, my son, to your home. The Age of Metal!**_


	3. ch1 Brand New Life, Brand New Legend

**AN: I am really trying to get the hang of writing, so any and all reviews are helpful. Thanks. From here on out the chapters will try to be in sync with the game storyline so some of the parts would almost exactly be like in the game.**

**_Throttle of Metal ~ Chapter One: Brand New Life, Brand New Legend_**

I had never thought that something like this happened. From one minute of getting my first job; getting paid minimal wage; to getting punched by a band's mascot, and to the next minute, by some sort of metal demon and get transported to the cover of a heavy metal record. Either I'm delusional or I'm in heaven.

As I take a look around, I noticed I am standing on a small mountain of mud and metal right next to the mother-of-all Mountains of bones. I can see, barely, a small building on the very top of it. Observatory, perhaps, maybe not.

I try to find a way down when I saw a small group- five, maybe six of them at the most –of red-robed people with their hoods over their heads, walking to a path that leads up to the mountain next to the one I'm on. It must be a shrine, but the question is: a shrine to whom or for what?

It seems that the monks didn't know I was there, so I begin to slowly go down the small mountain unnoticed… right up until there was a loud echo of a _"Yea-Hhee-Hhaa!"_ from the shrine on the next mountain and saw my small movements. So, like any other love-everything monks would do, they begin to pull wicked looking, curved swords and moving towards me. Talking about bad luck. As the echo began to die down, I heard someone started to strum a few power cords when a bolt of lightning hit the top of the mountain where the music was coming from. I wouldn't want to be that guy right now.

I started to move around on the small mountain, trying to find the best place to fight from. Oh, did I mention I had never fought anything in my life. So, basically I'm screwed. That's when I tripped over something that had a stringy sound when hit… It was my violin, still in the case, but it was my violin! I had a strong feeling to bring my violin out, so I did. What I didn't realize that by the time I picked the violin up out of the case, a few of the monks had reached the top. As a few began to climb over the ledge, one of the monks that were the closest to me lunges with the sword at me. If I didn't blocked it with the bow of the violin, I would of gotten run through… wait, my bow that has strings that would break if I played too hard on my violin, but didn't break when I block a sword with it? Again, either delusional or in heaven. I snapped back to reality when everything began to shake like an earthquake.

**_Rrrruummblle_**

Luckily, when I stumbled over my feet- I blame the travel for my balance issues –I hit one of the monks on the arm with my bow's strings and its arm got sliced right through like a hot knife to butter.

"Dam, man. If I would have known that could happen back at home, I would not be picked on all the time."

**_Rrrruummblle_**

I was so happy that I forgot to see one of the monks managed to sneak behind me and cut me deep on long my left arm. It felt like my arm was on fire. I looked at my arm and saw the wound had turned my entire arm red with blood. I could still use it, but the pain was unbearable. That's when I heard my mother's voice again- wait, why do I know it is my mother's voice?

_** Play the song! Hurry! They will kill you if you don't!**_

**_ Rrrruummblle_**

_Look, I don't have time…. _Out of the blue, a song appeared in my head. Just as I let my instincts take control, I took the violin and began to play '_Unforgiven_' again. I began to feel the sorrow of the song as it was provoking my memory of my grandfather and noticed the monks acting strangely. I saw that the group of monks began to feel pain, and I'm not talking about the pain of a paper cut, but… like if someone took a sword to their arms. As I was playing, I noticed my arm beginning to heal, like an invisible nurse was stitching my arm back. By the time the song was done, the monks who were all around me were on the ground, twitching with so much pain. Looked back at my tethered sleeve, and saw my arm had completely healed.

_So… music has some sort of effect, like that rift I heard earlier that brought down that lightning and my violin healing me and hurting them._

_**That is why you are special.**_

_We are gonna have to talk when we get to somewhere safe, so you can tell me WHAT THE FUCK is this place?_

_**I told you, you are home, The Age of Metal.**_

_What is… ok, look never mind that we need to find a place to hide before some more of those monks from hell come to find their friends._ Me and my big mouth… err, brain. When I finally reached the bottom of the small mountain and I finished talking… Thinking to the violin, a being that looks like an abomination between a priest and a naked mole rat with two chimneys coming out of _his_ mouth, walks up with some more of the demonic monks and shorter nun-like being with a zipper for a face walks up to me, ready to strike.

"Who are you? Why did you kill the druids of…?" He, then, spots my shirt and the violin. "Where did you get those? Answer me now!"

"Whoa, hold on a second. I got the violin from my mother as for the shirt-"

At that moment, the priest cut me off. Why does that keep happening to me? "What are you talking about? Who is your mother? Tell me, human."

"Jes..."

_**Jeschum.**_

"Jeschum?"_ Talk about naming problems._

"You… You're the son of the Temptress of Fate?" As he said that, the entire group of demonic worshipers of all things leather bowed to me, like I was their god. "We have waited so long for your arrival, Fated Son. I was your mother's personal warfather in the past, and now, yours. Quickly, we must take you to the web before He arrives." _Rumble!_ The shrine on top of the mountain came down as the 'earthquake' tore apart the shrine. "Looks like we need to go now!"

"Who is '_He'_?" _Messed up world indeed. First fighting for your life, the next, you are being worshipped like a god in the flesh._

"Doviculus. He took the throne when the Emperor left to bring back knowledge from the future. Now, quickly we must run. I will answer any questions you have when we get there." The 'warfather' gestured the druids to pick me up and run to their home base, this 'web' they were talking about.

As they carried me, I heard an engine roared. When I looked above me at the highway-like road from the shrine, I saw a black hot rod with flames coming out of the sides speeding down the road like a bat out of hell, literately.

* * *

As he soars across the land, the demon lord Doviculus sees the temple crumbling to dust.

_What is this nonsense?_ I land amidst the rubble of the temple of Ormagöden and the dead bodies of my followers, when a warfather approaches me.

"What has happened to the temple, father?"

"My lord, they say it was The Great Fire Beast itself."

I give the father a look of disbelief when I see a blade stuck in the door of the ruined temple. With a strong pull, I took the blade, with a symbol of an upside down black bird with an ankh above the hilt of the sword, and caught the scent of a long lost emperor… and smiled.

"No, it was something far, far worse than that hellish beast. It was Succoria. I can smell it, her blood, here."

"But, why? Why does she return now?"

"War, heh heh. Finally." As the warfather returns back to the ranks, I smelt another blood of old.

_What is this then?_ I flew onto another, but smaller mountain, not far from the temple, and landed in the middle of the circle of dead victims of an unknown assailant, it was then I smelt the scent again and realized who it was.

"N-n-no! It cannot be!" Then I heard something that definitely tells me that I was right, it was a small echo of a song that brings even me fear. "Why has _She_ returned? It cannot be possible!"

I cannot believe she's still alive all this time. I have to prepare for _Her_ too.

* * *

We finally reached the 'web of the coil', apparent home base for what is left of my mother's old faction.

"And here we are. The Web of the Coil, home of the demonic temptress of Fate, or what is left of it."

It was just so amazing and yet disgusting at the same time. We entered a small cave along a large column with a statue of a stone spider that has strings of metal connecting its legs to eight small columns with sentries on top and bondage straps around the middle column. As I was carried in, the land began to slope down in a spiral until it opened into a large dome room with the floor lined with metal. It all looked like it used to be a main room in a sliver mine. And above, barely touching the celling except where it was anchored was a large metallic spider's web. I whistled, impressed by everything. My mother had great tastes.

"Jeschum never liked all the leather, so when she separated from the rest of the coil, she made sure that all the decorative leather was not in her lair. I do miss all of that though. But enough of that. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but first let me introduce myself." He and anyone who was in listening distance bowed again. "I am Panagron, your mother's, and now yours, trusted advisor. I bid you Welcome to the Fated Coil."

Panagron whistled- I don't know how but he did –called to a group of dog-sized spiders of metal carried a long table to the middle of the room. When the spiders set the table on the cave floor, they spun their silk into chairs that went with the table. After me, Panagron, and the others who brought me here, sat down at the table, and then, the metallic spiders brought in dish after dish of what looks like legs of lamb and ribs of beef. Everything smelt great and for once in my life I was starving. As everyone began to dig into the food, I got my plate of what they said as urchin and tollusk. Unfortunately, all they had to drink was beer or water, so I grabbed a glass of water. What? Just because I come from a different place doesn't mean I can get drunk. For once in my life, I began to feel at home, like I belong here even though they treat me like a god. The food was delicious, urchin tasted like chicken and the tollusk tasted like prime rib. As I continue to eat, Panagron began to spin the tale of the previous leader of the Fated Coil, Jeschum.


	4. ch2 Melody of Memories

_**Throttle of Metal ~ Chapter Two: Melody of Memories**_

* * *

**Twenty years and Nine months earlier**

"My lady, please don't go in there!" The warfather said through the other side of my door. "She will poison your thoughts and mind. I beg you my empress."

"Enough of this! I demand to see her." The emperor threaten the warfather, "Move now or I'll kill you where you stand."

I heard the father about to protest, but with a sigh, he moved away from the door. Then, I heard the empress knocking at my door.

"Come to gloat I see." I said with a hint of hatred in my voice.

"I just want to talk. Let me in, please."

I sighed, "I don't want to, but I cannot deny my emperor." I heard nothing but a sigh, then I stood from my mirrored desk and move toward to open the door. And, there stood my emperor, the White-Winged Death, Succoria. She stood there about seven feet tall, wearing her wings , which made her infamous within the Tainted Coil, around her like a body fitting cloak with a small, white, hooded cape with the symbol of the Coil on the back. We would have been the same height, but instead of hooves, I had four spider-like legs.

"Can I come in?" She said with a touch of worry in her voice. "I just want to talk."

"But-"Started the father behind her, before Succoria and I both delivered a glare that could skin a whale. Scared and powerless, the father bowed to the both of us and slumped back around the side of the door frame.

"So, what is so important that the emperor herself had to come all the way down from her high throne to talk to me about?"

"Stop playing around. You know fully of what I want to talk about."

Yesterday, I announced to the rest of the faction that my followers and I were leaving the Coil. Normally, they all would laugh at us and threw us in jail to await our 'punishment' for heresy. But, two things were different that day. The first was yesterday was the crowning ceremony for the new emperor, Succoria. And second, it was because of who I am. Just like how Succoria was called 'The White Winged Death', I too had a nickname, The Demon Temptress of Fate. I had the power to 'Tempt' the emotions and fate of others to my will. It wasn't because I'm one of the strongest in the coil, but it was the mystery of my powers. Only a small few had seen my powers at work, and, just like a pebble thrown in a still lake, ripples of gossip only magnify the mystery and began to cause fear throughout the rest of the coil, and eventually, across the land. "I told you about it before. It was just a matter of time."

"I thought you were only dreaming." She began to protest.

"Well, I wasn't!" I said with a stern look of determination.

She sighed, as she looked around my so-called 'web'. Instead of the leather straps and torture racks hanging off the walls like every high demon had in there room, the walls had silky, dark purple pieces of cloths draped around. A web-like chandelier hung from the center of the room with clear crystals hanging on at just the right places where the light from the window would brighten the entire room. My desk is made out of the same crystals with lines of metal running through it like a spider's web. And a door near my bed to lead down to a good sized room for purposes of the future.

"Well, can I, at least, make it up to you?" She asked with an apologetic tone in her voice. Ever since we were chosen to be generals for the Coil, we went from being rivals at everything to like sisters.

"If it would make you feel better, go ahead."

As soon as I finished my sentence, she turned back to door frame and signaled her warfather to bring something from the hallway. Then, I heard the banging of chains against the hallway floor. The warfather, with chains in hand, entered my room followed by a group of human slaves.

"Pick as many as you need."

"What is the meaning of this!?" I said with a startled tone.

"Just some human slaves." She said, like it was a normal thing.

"I do not approve of this! You, out of all people, should know my views on this! They are people, not savages that you can just chain up and shoved into cages!"

Succoria looked at me like I just broke her new toy. With surprised murmurs within the group of humans, she looked at them like they were a secret that was just revealed. The humans never heard of a demon standing up for them against the emperor herself.

"I know how you feel about the humans. At least look at them and take a few in as servants, not slaves."

If it was anyone else standing there and said the same thing, I would kill them on the spot. "Humph. Ok, I'll take a few because we are friends."

I walked around the group of humans, both men and women, young and old, healthy and sick. I grabbed the arms of three young men and took them aside. Then, I saw the worst thing I thought I wish I would never have seen: A small child, about five or six years old, with tears of sorrow in her eyes, holding on to her little stuffed bear with a death grip. "It's going to be alright, little girl. I'm not going to hurt you." I whispered, kneeling to her. As I was reaching down to help guide her to the others I put aside, she flinched. "I want my mommy and daddy." She whispered, quietly crying. I rose up a little to see both Succoria and the warfather checking at the other slaves, taking notes as they inspect the rest of the group. I crouch back down, in front of the little girl. "I'll take you in, for now. And then, tonight, when everyone else is asleep, I will take you to your parents."

"Do you promise?" She asked, sniffling. With a little wink, I kissed her forehead and cleared her tears. "Cross my heart. Now, what is your name?" She hugged me with renewed hope, as I guided her to the others. "My name is Jessica." She said with small tears of hope watering her eyes before wipe them off on her sleaves.

As I finishing looking at the rest of the group, I noticed a man. He looked like he was carved from stone, with long wavy hair, and bulky arms. He didn't make any kind of notion as I walked past him, not even a wince. With the scars on he's arms and the ones on his face; he looked like he just survived a war. So, I asked him to move over to where I told the little girl and the young men, and all he said with a bow of his head. "Yes, mistress."

Mistress? I like the sound of that. As I was about to turn to Succoria satisfied with my choices, I heard a voice, "Excuse me, my mistress."

I turned back around and saw him. The man was bowing down to me, and with a gentle nudge to stand, he lifted up and sent a surge of emotion that ran right though me and caused me to blush. Everything about him looked average: his height, his hair, his body. But, something was amiss with him, like he didn't belong here, not just on this island but at this time. "I beg you, mistress. Take me with you!" the man said with a worry in his voice. Confused by these emotions, I continue to blankly stare at him. "A-alright. Go, stand with the others." I know I don't like using lesser beings as slaves, but I have never felt this way about one before. I just feel something. As that strange man walked over to the others, Succoria, with a devilish grin, looked at me like she discovered a secret.

"And I see that you got yourself a little plaything, didn't you?" she said, with curious glint in her eyes.

"What- no I didn't! It just a feeling, that is all."

"Riight. Well, without a further to do, I will take my leave." She said, as she turned to leave my room, taking the rest of the humans with her. As she was closing the door, she poked her head in and said with a wink, "Just remember: Don't have too much fun!"

Sigh. I turned around to the slave- I mean humans and said, "Well, as you can see, I'm not like the others in the Coil. But, that doesn't mean I will not go easy on you and I will kill you if you are not too careful. Now then, before we are to do anything, all of you will need a bath." And boy, do they! From the crusted mud on their feet and legs and the lingering, sweaty odor coming from where the group was standing, I guess they took them from the main land and made them walk all the way to the shore. I make my way to my closet that was close to my desk and I pulled out some servant clothing made from my own spider silk for all of them.

I opened the door near my bed to show them to the showers and their beds. The room at the bottom of the stairs slowly shifted to a long hallway with a giant wash room. Each room only had a pile of hay toward the back wall of the room with only a small window to let in enough light to see in the room. "Here is where all of you will stay."

"We don't even get any beds? And here we thought you like the humans." Said one of the younger men with a smirk. "I said I'm not like the others. Luxury is a privilege, not a right. You want beds? Prove to me that you deserve beds. Now, I suggest you all wash up. I will not have any of my servants dirty."

As the group of the humans slowly makes their way to the respectable sides of the wash room, I barred little Jessica's way and said, "No point to have a wash alone. Come with me." I take her by the hand as I lead her back up the stairs and back to my desk where I keep my maps. "Show me where your parents are on the map and I'll come up with a plan to take you back to them."

Hesitantly, Jessica pointed just a little north of the metal spider's forest, in the mountains. I have heard stories of a village of people who lived with the metal spiders, dog-sized spiders with metallic exoskeletons that is said to come from the corpse of the great fire beast, Ormagöden himself. "I'm so sorry that you were taken so far from your home." I found so much sorrow for this child, and tears began to form in my eyes. I wipe them away with a piece of my silk I have laying on my desk. "Why don't we go and get washed, huh? I maybe a demon, but to tell you the truth…" I looked up at the door to the servant's chambers. "I'm kind of scared of the boys here. What about you?" Jessica looked at me, confused at first but then smiled and shook her head 'yes'. "Alright then, until we get you home, we girls will have to stick together." With a smile on her face, I guided Jessica back down to the wash room helped her with her bath.

When Jessica and the others left the wash rooms, wearing the outfits I gave to them, they saw the hallway was turned into a dining hall with a long table with enough food to feed them for a week. I stood from the farthest end of the table from them. "You can't go to bed without a full stomach. Eat as much as you need, for tomorrow, the real work begins." I saw the look on Jessica's face. Complete amazement. Just with that look from her alone, it took all the sorrow I had from earlier. Everyone else took their seats; Jessica sitting so close to the left of me that she was practically sitting in my lap, the man with the battle scars sat the farthest away from everyone like he was brooding about something, while the one-that-is-out-of-place was also alone for I saw got a plateful of food and took it back to he's room to eat.

By the time everyone was full and back in their rooms fast asleep, the room changed back to the hallway from earlier. I went back upstairs to get ready for tonight's get-a-way when I heard a familiar knocking at my door. "Enter." I whispered making sure that the other servants didn't wake up. It was my personal warfather, Panagron.

"All the preparations are set, my lady. Are you sure you want to go through with this? If anyone finds you releasing a human back on the main land, they will have your head for this, especially what you did this morning." Said the old warfather, leaning in from the hallway keeping a lookout while I finish getting ready.

"I've made a promise and I tend to keep it. Besides, I may have a possible base for my followers." I finally set up a bag for Jessica with some food and a blanket, with both the bag made from the same silk. "At least take a weapon with you, Mistress."

"You worry too much. The only weapon I need is right here." I patted at my violin, DeS'tiny, in a mini-cocoon like bag I'll wear around my waist with the bow in a sheath on my hip. The strings from both the violin and bow were said to be made from the vocal cords of Ormagöden, believed to still have the fire beast terrible roar within the notes play with it and sharp enough to rival Succoria's axe, The Separator. The violin itself is an amplifier for my powers so I can do a more group targeted 'temptation'.

"If you insist, my mistress. But, if I may, suggest some type of disguise. I think you would do more harm than good to show up in your current attire." He said, while his body language was gesturing to all of me.

Looking at myself in the mirror at my desk, I figured that I look more demonic than anyone else. Normally, the demons in the Coil have a twisted humanoid figure with normal legs or legs like a goat. Whereas I have six thin spider like legs, I stand on four of them where the other two, I use them to help me balance with my abdomen. Unfortunately, my skin has a faint purple hue to it. Even among my own kind, I am a freak. Luckily, I can 'suck in' certain parts of my anatomy to look more human. I tried to compact my four legs in a single pair of human-like legs. I quickly wrap them up in my silk, making me look like I'm wearing faint white stockings. To help match my legs, I made a pair of gloves enough to cover my arms up just past my elbows. Then, just like I did with my legs, I tried to shrink my abdomen enough to look like I have a normal backside for a human female. As I finish my disguise with my black hooded cloak, I walk down into the servant's quarters to get Jessica ready for the trip. When I got to her room, I saw that she was still in her straw bed with her stuffed bear. "Jessica? Hey, wake up, honey. It's time to take you back to your family." She at last rose up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I'm ready." She said, with a yawn. I got her up from the bed and helped her with her backpack of supplies.

"Now remember, we cannot make any sound while we go through these hallways." She nods in approval, still in a light daze from waking up. I took in hand as I power walked us back up the stairs before saying one last goodbye to my warfather. With a flash, I put Jessica on my back and began to run down the hallway with dizzying speed. Even with the silk stockings around my legs, I can still run just as fast, if not faster than normal. When we arrived in the great hall of the castle, I spotted a small group of guards patrolling the hall just as I quickly in the shadows in the hall. I waited for the patrol to walk the farthest away of the main entrance. When it was clear, I took off like a sudden gust of wind. The sun was setting when we finally reach the outside. I finally made it to the docks and found the little boat Panagron had secured for me. When I lowered sleeping Jessica in the boat, I got in and pulled out DeS'tiny and began to play a quiet but forceful piece. I learned that if I subtly play it, I can use it to help push me across water. As I play, I began to make the water to 'pull' the boat to the main land. When we were far enough where my music can't be heard from the island, I played louder and louder to make the boat increase the speed to a point it was like I was running across the water. As I spotted the shore of the main land, I slowly began to play with ease enough where the boat was losing speed. With a soft thud, we had made it to the main land. I carried the sleeping Jessica on my back in a small cocoon. After getting both the supplies and Jessica, I heard one of the scouting parties of the Coil making their rounds of the coast. I took in the air of the salty ocean behind me and took off running on the trail that leads to the Lair of the Metal Spider Queen, while dodging stray Coil patrols.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about not posting this sooner. It took a lot longer than i expected. Remember: please comment/rate/review. It will help dearly.**


	5. ch3 Into The Spider's Web

_**Throttle of Metal ~ Chapter Three: Into the Spider's Web**_

"So…" Looking at Panagron with a glint of wonder in my eye. "What happened next?"

"I'm sorry, my lord. Unfortunately, I don't know that myself." He reached into his pocket and pulled out pages from a book that was older than anyone here. "I only have this part of her diary. I've only read it the day before see went after Succoria. I have a nasty habit of tearing out the pages I have already read." He gets up from his chair and walks over to the bookshelf behind him and picks out a book that he has previously read. Truth being proven, Panagron opens the book only to be found with the small inner edges of the pages he pulled out. "I had to stop for just a second to help my mistress with her things for the trip and came back only to find the book was missing. Even all the servants and spiders didn't see what happened to it. So, naturally, I stop looking for it hoping that one day I can finish reading it. Anyways, it is time to sleep for the day."

"What are you talking about?" I move over toward the closest window and saw dawn was approaching. _Well, crap. Time flies when you are listening to a good book-diary thing._

"Ever since we have been with the metal spiders, I guess we had taken on their nocturnal habits, since we need them as much as they need us."

"Well, is it alright if I go exploring for a bit?" Ever since I can remember, I always had weird sleeping times. I can take a small cat nap during the day and be able to stay up all that night with an equally amount of energy to boot.

Panagron chuckled. "You need not have to ask permission to do anything. Just be careful, the wilderness is just as dangerous during the day as well as the night." The old warfather and some of the monks made their way down a flight of stairs toward the other side of the great hall. "Before you go, make sure your room is up to par. It was your mother's room, so we hope that both of you have at least the same taste. Good 'morrow." With a last wave, Panagron and the others disappeared down the staircase to their rooms, I assume.

Just to make certain where the room is, I manage to stop one of the cleaning spiders and asked where the room is:

~_Click-Up-clack-there.~ _with a small gesture with one of its legs, the spider pointed to the big double doors with a web-like design on it. "Thanks. Wait, what?!" The spider quickly ran back to whatever it was doing. This place keeps getting stranger and stranger by the minute. I had to pinch myself to make sure I knew if that spider was talking to me.

I went up the stairs to the room to find myself in udder amazement. Only for a few more furniture and a bigger bed, it is exactly like how Panagron described it in the pages. They had a few hammocks made from spider's silk put in over toward the small library corner near one of the windows. _I guess my mother didn't like to sleep in the bed most nights._

I found my duffel bag and violin case (DeS'tiny and all) sitting on the foot of the bed. I checked my duffel bag only to find it to be empty, no clothes and no Xbox. Well, I didn't really to play while I was here. Furious beyond belief, I went over to the closest dresser to see if the console was in there. No Xbox, but I did find the clothes I packed neatly folded and organized in the compartments. I looked up in the mirror behind the dresser to find someone has put a note on it:

_My Lord,_

_ I assume that you found your clothes were all folded and put away cleanly. Well, as a 'Welcome Home' present, go and look in the closet._

_~Panagron_

_I now see why my mother kept him for help._ I went over to the closet near the head and open the door. There were only a few things hung up: A raven black trench coat with a weird-looking symbol on the back of it. It looked like it was using two-thirds of a radiation hazard symbol for eyes with an upside down ankh piercing straight down the center with the entire symbol base was a darker shade of black than the coat, only to be outlined with a deep purple to separate the two colors; a pair of black leather biker boots that matches with the coat; and a violin-shaped back holster with a matching sheath for the bow. I noticed that most of the fabric of the bag and the sheath was extremely soft, like I was holding a smooth light grey cloud. _If the bow was sharp enough to cut those monks from earlier, I highly doubt that this can hold it._ I went to the violin case and took the bow out. I swiped one of the curtains near the bed, and like how the monks was cut, part of the curtain floated down to the ground. Satisfied with the outcome, I hold out the sheath out and tried to cut the holder. As soon as the bow made contact, they made a _clang_ loud enough to shake the crystal chandelier right above me, like if they both were swords made from the same metal.

_Good enough for me._

_**Truly, these will serve you for your fate, my son.**_

Practically jumping out of my skin, I completely forgot about the 'mother's-partial-soul-in-violin' thing. _Holy Crap! Don't ever do that without a warning next time._

The voice giggled at my thoughts. You know, for something claiming to be part of my mother's soul, she can just piss me off sometimes.

_**Sorry about that. I thought we were in sync enough that you felt my presence.**_

*Sigh* _All I'm asking is that for you to give me some warning next time, ok? By the way, how can I talk to you without my voice?_

_**Our souls are in sync do to our mother-son bond. Just like you inherited some of mine and your father's looks, you inherited this link to my soul.**_

_Well, I guess that could explain it. Now if you will excuse me, I would like to take a bath in peace._ I went back to the closet to return the sheath to the bag, and grabbed the shirt with a cool tribal design on it that GrandD gave me as a graduation present, a week before he rounded up in the hospital, living on borrowed time. I looked hard enough to find that the same symbol that was on the coat integrated in the design. Laughing to myself, I pulled out an exact pair of black jeans that the only difference between this pair and the pair I'm wearing now is that the one wasn't caked with dried mud.

As I enter the personal bathroom, I found a metal basket, lined with the same silk-like material that he bag and sheath was made of, to put the old clothes in. I got undressed when I flinched at my arm where it was cut from before, but there was nothing there, no scar or mark of any kind that would show an injury. Still amazed by the nothing-ness of the wound, I finally got into the shower. You know, after everything that has happened to me today, one good hot shower just takes away all the stress and fatigue from the day. Satisfied with the cleanness of my body, I step out of the shower and get on the clothes I took out ahead of time. I went back to the closet to put on everything else that need for the little exploration trip. After finishing putting on the jacket, I wrapped the violin holder around me like a belt with the sheath to my side. And for the finishing touches, I slid DeS'tiny and its bow into the proper holders, then, made my way toward the exit, walking the slope back up to the surface.

When I reached the end of the cave, I notice that outside is brighter than it was yesterday. The weather is a lot clearer, with only a few clouds far west of here. I followed a trail that leads into the small mountains near the Web for a few minutes when I came across a fork in the road and a stone sign with tailpipe-like pieces of metal sticking out of its sides and a lot of red flowers with pedals shaped like the 'devil's horns' hand symbol people make when they are rocking out to some band, surrounding the slab. Next to this stood a smaller, wooden sign with two arrows: one pointing to the left to go to the beach, and the other pointing into a darken cavern are reading _Lair of the Metal Queen_. Hmm, either go to the beach, where I could see if I can meet any other human (possibly more girls than guys), or go in to the _'Lair of the Metal Queen'_, where I can satisfy my curiosity and see if there is a 'Queen of the Metal' here? My head says go to the beach, but my gut says to go into the lair. When your head starts to tell you to go to somewhere there is even the slightest possibility to meet A (single) girl, then you know there has to be a reason to follow your gut. I was about to turn to go into the Lair, when DeS'tiny began to pull me toward the slab in the fork of the trail. I notice there, on the slab, are some sort of lettering, glowing in a faint red light from within, with what it looks like a small solo piece of music. Awestruck, I try to touch the slab to see where the light was coming from, as soon as I touched it, something popped like a small firecracker. I shielded my face from it, thinking that the slab would hurt me in some way. When I think the coast was clear, I saw the slab's writing, both the words and the music, had changed. Even the light was glowing a different color, from the faint red to more of a smoky purple color.

Now, the music was a little clearer to me. I guess if I don't know how to play from guitar music back at home, then something would translate for me. _Clever, really clever_. So, I pulled out DeS'tiny and began to play and memorized the music. Listening to myself play it, I begin to recognize it little by little as _'Wherever I May Roam'_ by Metallica. I going to have to sit down and play some other songs I know just to see what happens.

When I finished playing, I heard load screeching, like a door that has been closed for a long time just opened, and spotted a gate that was in front of the way to the lair just opened. I'm still wondering why I'm still listening to my gut when I am pretty sure that I want to check out the beach.

I wonder into the 'Lair', and if I must say, I'm kind of amazed at this place. For one thing, this cavern/canyon looks like it was stitched together with the same metal spider webs as the Web is. As I continue down the path, I see more moving sacks of spider webs moving and more bones of past prey. The more I move down the path, the more I hear the sounds of the metal spiders.

_~Click-clack-click-clack~ _

The hairs on the back of my neck began to rise as the sounds grow loader.

_~Click-clack-click-clack~_

Maybe just like the ones at the Web, these around here are friendly.

_**~Click-clack-click-clack~**_

The noises suddenly stop when I reached a gate with some sort of gate with a giant spider was integrated into the design of the gate. When I began to reach out to open the gate, the gate burst open and a mini wave of metal spiders, same size as the ones that live at the Web, pulled me down and drag me into the camber. They pulled me to the center of the area when they went back to close the gate, when one of the spiders began to 'interrogate' me with the same sounds, like it was talking:

_~Click-clack-click-Why-click_

_Click-clack-You-clack_

_Click-Come-Click-clack? ~_

_Now, this is getting weird. Even for this place._ "CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME? I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS YOUR NEST. I WAS JUST EXPLORING. ME NEW HERE!" Great, first I'm talking to the violin, now I'm trying to talk to a dog-sized metal spider. Things couldn't get any weirder.

_**~ This isn't just his nest. ~ **_Said a voice that echoed so load through the lair that any spider, even the one in front of me, that was out quickly scurried to their hiding places.

I had to think that, didn't I?

A larger spider, easily four times the size of the spiders I have seen around, crawled out of a small cave at the other end of the area. Not only was I scared out of my mind just by the sheer size of the 'metal queen' spider, but something in me was just awestruck by the beauty of the queen.

"Umm, I-I-I… L-like I was trying t-to say before…" I gave a bow, just to show I mean no disrespect to her and her kin. "I w-was just exploring the area. I am kind of new here."

_**~ We don't have too many of your kind wandering around here, but I am a little curious as to… What is that on your back? ~**_

_DeS'tiny? Why would the queen of the spiders want to see my violin?_ I pulled out DeS'tiny to show the large queen.

_**~ May I? ~**_ She began to reach out with her two front legs when I flinched a little, trying to protect one of the few things I have of my mother's. _**~ I will not harm it or you. My legs cannot break its strings. ~ **_She plucks a few strings.

_**~ Aah. It has been too long since I heard those strings being played. Assuming that this violin is the one and only DeS'tiny, I felt its presence when it entered my lair and expected to feel the Fate Temptress', but didn't expect to feel yours. ~**_

"That's been happening to me lately. If I may ask, how can I understand you a lot better than the smaller spiders that I've met?"

_**~ Because they are not 'in sync', soul wise, with you, Fated One, just like your mother. ~**_

So, let me get this straight. My mother, Jeschum, is actually a demon that has separated from her original fraction to create her own has 'linked' with the giant queen of metal spiders. Wow, just wow.

"May I touch you? I know this sounds weird, but I have never seen anything like you. Just to reassure myself, that all of this is real."

She made a little clicking noise, like she giggled. _**~ Of course you can, child. ~**_

I reach up to feel the smooth… "DO NOT HARM HER!" As a spear-like sliver of metal flew past my hand, barely missing it, a girl about the same age as me, maybe a few years older, came down with a large sword, trusted on the spot where I was before I dodged out-of-the-way. I regain my senses when I saw her complete form. Her hair was a shade lighter of black than mine, with the most beautiful pair of crystal blue eyes I've ever seen. With a figure, for her age, that could rival even the playboy bunnies, she stood at a couple of inches taller than me, wearing a black T-shirt with a leather mini skirt, black and silver stockings, complete with the same boots that Panagron gave me. All of which had a purple spider web design all over her clothes. With her overwhelming beauty, I felt myself blushing wildly.

"Who the hell are you? Why did you come here?" She asked. _Huh, what?_

Annoyed by my delay of an answer, she was about to cut me down with her sword when I reactively drew the bow of DeS'tiny to block the attack, ending up cutting her sword in two. She fell back, shocked by the breaking of her sword and crawled backwards toward the queen.

_**~ Easy, my guardian. This young man isn't here to harm me. ~**_

"But, my queen. The only humans you ever allowed in here, after the Tainted Coil began to enslave the other humans, are my father and I. What right, by the name of the gods, does this boy, who by the way wandered in here only by his whim, have to even lay a finger on you?"

_**Aah. It has been a long time since I have felt her presence.**_

_Who? The metal queen?_

_**No.**_

_Who, then? Unless there is someone else here, other than the queen or… Wait. Is that girl-  
_

_**-Jessica? **_Sometimes, I wish she will quit doing that. _**Yes, the little girl from before and this young woman here are the same.**_

Ou 'vay…

As I got myself up and dusted my clothes off, I manage to catch the last of the heated conversation between both the queen and her guardian…

_**~ Because, my brave little one, this maybe the last time I feel someone touch me. ~**_

"It doesn't matter! This-"Jessica did a double take. "Wait. What do you mean by that?" Just as stunned as Jessica, I saw her began to tear up as I felt the same wetness began around my eyes too.

_**~ A long time ago, a dear friend told me of my ever closing destiny. She said that years from then a young, but familiar, stranger would pose as a sign to my soon-coming demise. I didn't want to tell you because of a few things: Firstly, she said that my death would be one of the first to send this age into peace, with this young man's help, of course; and Lastly, ~**_ She glances over to me with a few of her eight eyes. _**~ The same person who told me this was the same person who saved you from the Tainted Coil all of those years ago. ~**_

"I… But-"Jessica tried to say before a wave of sadness overwhelmed her, with sorrowful tears began to leak down from her eyes.

_**~ Soon-coming, my dear. Not this instant. Now, would you please prepare two of the best riders for you two, while I speak with Lucas here? I think the Master of Kill would like to see this boy. ~**_

Jessica nodded at the queen as she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, then, turned to get the 'riders' to meet this 'Master of Kill'. Both the queen and I watched as the sexy- *coughs* I mean, the beautiful guardian leave around the corner. When there was no more sign of Jessica there, the queen leered back at me.

_**~ You like her, don't you? ~ **_

"What?! No, I mean, I don't necessarily hate her." Man, if GrandD were here to see me, he would say 'Boy, you're redder than a ripe tomato' or something like that.

_**~ Don't lie. It doesn't fit you to. But, you will have to tell her who you really are. Sooner or later, she will find out. ~**_

*Sigh* "Yeah, sooner or later, right. Look, I-"Out of all the things a giant spider of metal could do, the queen did something that would make anyone else just faint at: the queen hugged me. Even though all she only did was wrap her front legs around me and brought me closer to her, it felt nice. "If I knew-"

_**~ -Then you would do what? Watch everything around you grow old and you grow useless with old age? You don't have to be sorry, it was set in stone the moment your mother and I became friends. ~ **_She let me go, and straighten up only to whistle, calling to something. A smaller spider, about one-third of the queen but was still bigger than the others, came out of the cave behind the queen. _**~ And don't worry about my absence. That, too, I have prepared for. By the time the age of metal will truly know peace; this little one will grow into my place. All I ask is for you to look over the nest, just like your mother did all that time ago, till then and to protect Jessica. She may not look like it, but she is taking harder than anyone else. Now, for the matter at hand: ~**_

At that time, Jessica returned with two spiders, the same size as the 'princess' spider but with longer and much wider legs, from around the corner.

_**~ I would like the both of you to travel up to the Master of Kill on top of the mountain, Thunderhorn. ~**_ The queen raises one of her legs and points to the great mountain southeast from here. _**~ Once there, I want Lucas here, and only Lucas, to deliver my message: "The time is at hand. The 'Fated Son' has arrived". ~**_ She said, with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Unless they are going to carry us all the way up the mountain-"While I was about to finish talking, Jessica walked over and put a finger to my lips.

"You talk way too dam much." She said calmly (and madly blushing, at that too), then proceeded to point to the series of webs that linked the trees on the higher ground to Thunderhorn.

_Holy SHITs! Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! I got a girl to touch me! YES!_ "Oh…" If you could tell already, I was blushing so hard that I was redder than 'redder than a ripe tomato' speech. I was in a daze so much that I didn't relies until it happened, that one of the rider spiders knocked me down onto its back and was after the other up the canyon wall toward the web bridges. Jessica didn't talk while we traveled to Thunderhorn, not even to acknowledge me, except the teary look she begins to give me, until I look at her, then the tears would stop and she would begin to blush.

We finally arrived at the back of an amphitheater built into the side of Thunderhorn, with several stone love-seats big enough to hold at least four more people in them, and each one of them had a laid back person, either drinking or sleeping, and each one of them wearing mirror sunglasses. In the middle, down on the ground level, was a cushion bed with a killer speaker system hooked up around the bed, except an opening if anyone would want to lay down on it. The only place that didn't have a love-seat was on the center of the amphitheater, was a large table-top bass guitar with a statue of the metal queen behind it. The person who was there had stretched out with his legs crossed on his bass, a lit cigaret in the corner of his mouth, and his westerns hat pulled down over his eyes.

"Oh, great and mighty, Kill Master!" Jessica said with a small bit of humor in her voice.

The man noticed and stood up in time as Jessica ran into him giving her a hug. I got to see his features a lot better now: he is tall and as skinny as a twig; he has long black hair that reached past his shoulders; his sideburns led down the sides of his face until it connected with is moustache, with a pair of warts on the side of his face, just above his jaw line.

"Don' do that, Jessica. You know you scare me when you do that." He noticed me a few feet back. "Well, who in the hell is this bloke?" Gesturing at me.

"Oh, him. I found him talking to the metal queen. His name is Lucas, I think."

"Lucas, sir, Lucas Stamen. Pleasure to me you." I held out my hand to shake, but only got back a glare.

"Is that so? Well, alright then. Jess, could you be a dear and bring up some beer from the back, please?" With a nod, she skipped down around the statue. Then, with no sight of Jessica, the man practically jumped me with a passion. "I'm the Kill Master and I want to ask you a few questions, so just shut up, sit back, and only talk to answer. If not, you will find out why I call myself the Kill Master. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." I don't think this qualify as 'getting into trouble', but this is sure dam close to be.

"Alright; First, how did you get into the lair?"

"I saw a stone slab in the fork of the trail and it had some music on it. I played the music and the gates swung open after the music stopped."

"Great. Just great." Kill Master sighed and looked over at a few of his fellow bassist and nodded to them. They acknowledged him and rode off on their bikes to the gate. "Next question: Jess said you talked to the Metal Queen…" He jabs a thumb over to the statue of the same spider behind him. "How did you talk to her? Even before the Tainted Coil took over this place, there were only a few of us, including Jessica and myself, who can communicate, much less to talk, to the queen."

"She said something about our souls were in sync with each other." And I thought all of those people on game shows, if it was their first time, were nervous. I think I got them beat. "She also sent me up here to tell you: 'The time has come. The 'Fated Son' has arrived'."

With that said, he went from having a 'I'm gonna kill you if you don't tell me the truth' look to more of a sorrow-filled one, with a single tear running down the right side of his face. He wiped away the look and continued. "Okay, last one. You said that you played what was on the slab and since I don't see a bloody guitar strapped to your back, what did you play it on?"

"My violin." I reached around me and pulled DeS'tiny out of its- "WHERE IN THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?!" _Holy bagebus!_ Even with his sunglasses on, I knew he was wide-eyed.

"It's kind of a long story." Trying to back away slowly.

"I've got time." He said with an icy stare that I felt through my reflection off of his sunglasses

"Ok. It all started-"'NOBLE_ KILL MASTER!' Son of a… I hate it when I get interrupted._

"Oh, what the hell is it, this time? Hold to that thought boy." _Apparently, neither does him._ He turned to face whoever it was that interrupted us, with me behind him, in just the right angle where I can see them but they couldn't see me.

Whoever it was, dam he's built. He would even give Fabio a run for his money; he even came with the flowing locks of gold on his head. He was wearing a brown leather vest with metal studs lining each side of the opening; a pair of worn blue jeans; and a pair of leather bracers and bands on both of his arms. All complete with a pair of biker's boots and a nasty looking sword strapped to his side. Coming up from behind him, was two people: a tall and skinny blond woman, a little taller than Jessica, practically wearing the same things like the first guy, with a large halberd on her back, it's almost like the two were siblings; and unlike the others, the third person had jet black hair that had the same bui- Wait a minute._ He looks like… No, it can't be him._ I stepped closer to see, making sure that the three still couldn't see me. _Aww, crap it is! It's Eddie!_

* * *

**A/N: So, here it is! Sorry that it took a long time to get this out, but i just couldn't put a chiffhanger anywhere. Thanks to all who've following this story. Please R&R.**

** Coat bike and HidanKakuzuFanGirl: Thanks for the support!**


	6. ch4 One Last Gift

_**Throttle of Metal ~ Chapter 4: One Last Gift…**_

_**Meanwhile at a Lake…**_

"My lord," said a red-robed druid, as he approached the demon lord at a large body of darkened water. "Rumors have been floating around the rest of the Coil that the Fated Son has arrived. Is this true?"

_How precious…_ I chuckled to myself. "Not that I know of, no. Now, go and tell General Lionwhyte to prepare his forces, just in case. I do love watching him so full of hope only to have it taken away." _Not only did Succoria gave birth to an heir, but so did __**that**__ demon wretch. Oh, how marvelous is this. I guess I have to send a 'Welcome Home' present… Heh, heh. _"Oh, and do send a small group to this location-"I reached into my chest and pulled out a map; unrolled it and pointed to a small clearing in a small group of mountains on the western continent. "And tell them to give the traitors my **best** regards. Also, tell them that for each head they bring back to me, I'll give them something 'special' tonight."

With a little chuckle and a slight bow, the druid said, "I will lead them, _personally_, my liege."

* * *

_What are the odds…? I thought Ormagoden killed him._ Yep, along with the brother and sister of blond, stood Eddie, the same roadie who I was working with.

"I'm Lars Halford of Bladehenge. This woman-"He gestures to a woman who was lied down on the small bed in the center. She was unconscious, with bruises and cuts all over her. I couldn't tell how tall she is, but if I had to guess, she is a little shorter that Eddie. She was wearing a black T-shirt with a symbol of an upside-down white crow with a black ankh in its center, diving down the same direction as the crow. Somehow, I felt like that I know that symbol, but could not place where I have seen it. She was also wearing the standard black jeans that everyone here seems to wear, with black sneakers and had a pair of spiked bracelets (when I mean spiked, I'm not talking about the little pyramid studs you find on the bracelets at Hot Topic, either. I'm talking about good 2 to 3 inch metal spikes that should belong to a train track) with a matching belt and a black collar around her neck. _How the hell is that not comfortable for her? Either those spikes are ruining the bed or they are going into her._

"Didn't you read the bloody signs?" the Kill Master said, showing annoyance even behind his shades. "We do not like visitors up here. Why do you think we put those signs up in the first place?'

"But, Kill Master, she is dying!"

"So, what is their excuse, then?" Pointing at both the sister and Eddie.

"Noble Kill Master-"_Talk about brown-nosing. Sheesh._ "I beg of you, please heal this woman. All she did was to help free the women from the evil clutches of General Lionwhyte…"

_Who is this 'white lion', person? Wait, Lionwhyte. White Lion? Ok, now I'm confused. Are we fighting the lead singer to that 80's band or not?_ I noticed that whatever the Kill Master had on his face went into a more sympathetic look. "Oh, you guys are fighting Lionwhyte? Why didn't you say so? I hate that wig-headed bastard." He stands up and rubs his hands together. "Let's see what I can do." He began to play the table bass in front of him. I swear, if I didn't know that he was playing an instrument, I would have thought that he was massaging the table.

I saw Eddie say something to the woman beside him. I didn't hear what he said, but the Kill Master did and responded. "People-" Glancing over to me. "-pissing me off, for one thing." I noticed that some of her injuries began to slowly heal, but not all the way. With a big sigh, he stops playing and started to rub the back of his neck. "Well, that's that. My strings aren't strong enough to heal her." At that moment, I saw the wheels began to turn in his head as he quickly glanced over to me. _I hope you're not thinking of…_ "But, I think this young man can help." He tilted he's head down to them, making sure I got the message. _Sigh. Of course you did._ I put up my hood making sure that they couldn't see my face. Eddie would like to see a familiar face, but I don't know how the other two would act.

As I make my way down the stairs, a gentle but strong wind was blowing at me, pushing my coat tail behind me, while making me look like I just came from an action movie. From the look of the three's faces, I must look like a badass. I felt like one too.

_I don't know what to play…_

_** Play the first song that popped in your head.**_

_Would that work, in reverse I mean?_ So, I took DeS'tiny out from its back sheath, closed my eyes and began to play '_Unforgiven'_ again, thinking of my GrandD while I play. I noticed that Eddie was trying to figure out where he saw my violin before. _You know, for a roadie, he can be dense sometimes._ When I felt the magic coming from my playing, I open my eyes only to see that all I did was I stopped her bleeding and lighted her bruises by a little bit.

_CRASH!_

"LUCAS!" I snapped up to see Jessica, dropped the bottles of beer Kill Master asked for and was running down the stairs, and nearly tackled me down and dropping my hood.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, Jess. What's the matter?'

"'What's the matter?'! You're bleeding, that is what's the matter!" I looked down at my left arm and saw my blood dripping from my coat sleeve. I took off my coat to find that the wound had open back up. I didn't realize how deep it was. Just before I can examine my arm any farther, Jessica came up with a piece of tightly woven spider's web and bandaged my arm with it. I started to ask her where she got the webbing from and realized that she tore a piece of her stockings. I quickly looked away before she realized, but when I saw she was blushing as much as I could feel, I couldn't help to smile. She looked up and our eyes met. I saw her hand moved from the bandage and brought it up to…

Smack me right across my face. Everyone who was watching us, including the spiders around the Kill Master that stopped moving to see what was going on, flinched. "OWW! What was that for!?" I was rubbing what felt like an impression of her hand on my face.

"For being stupid enough to not realizing you were bleeding. And for scaring me…" She began to blush.

"What was that last part? I didn't quite catch that part."

Then came another slap, only this time she hit the other side. Man, do I have a big mouth or what? "Nothing! It was nothing." Her face was blushing brighter than I could ever get. She gathered herself back and quickly made her way back to the back of the amphitheater. A few seconds later, I felt two enormous arms wrap around me and pulled me into a bear hug.

"Holy crap, man! I didn't know you were here!" Eddie said with a childish expiration on his face.

"Yea, me too. I thought you were dead when that metal beast was over you."

"Yea, I- Wait. What metal beast?"

"Um… can we talk about this later, when we are not in present company?"

Eddie stopped and realize that Lars, his sister (I'm assuming it's his sister), the Kill Master and a few of the other bassists. "Oh, heh. Right, later. But I didn't know your violin would do anything here."

"Yea, it surprised me as well." As soon as I was finished, other blonde jabbed her halberd at me.

"Who the hell are you?" She said. Her voice had calmness about it but still sounded like knives at my throat.

Eddie knocked away the blade of the halberd and introduced me to both Lars and his sister (totally called it), Lita.

"Ahem." The Kill Master had gotten the attention from me back. "If that violin couldn't heal her, then that means I need to get better strings. But, the problem to that is only the Queen-" He jabs he's thumb to the statue behind him. "-is the only one who can produce that quality of strings. And from the look of the sorry dear, we need them quickly. She doesn't look like she has much time. The Lair is just around the corner, so best if you can hurry."

"Alright then." Eddie pulls out his guitar from his back and plays a quick solo. Then, with a flash of lightning, a hot rod with a black finish and flames painted on the sides appeared out of nowhere in front of Eddie. He jumps into the driver's seat and, with a twist of the keys, started the car with a load roar. "Let's get going!"

"Ho-ly Crap!"

"Nice, right. I call it the Deuce, but it can be called the Druid Plow. Hop in. Surely, this is faster than walking." I picked my jacket back up, making sure my blood had dried, and put it back on. The look on Eddie's face was either 'What. The. Hell.' or 'He must think he is a badass'. I have to go with the latter of the two.

As we drive down to the gates of the metal queen, I saw a small radio on the dashboard, with gold lettering on the top that reads, '**MOUTH OF METAL'.**

"_**Lucas…"**_

I looked at Eddie, "Did you say something?"

"Wha- No." he looked at me like I was crazy or something. As we were about to stop, I heard it again.

"_Lucas…" __ There it is, again. It sounded like it was coming from-_

Eddie parked- more like jumping out of the driver's seat and slid me still in the car into one of the boulders to the left of the gate- and went over to where the stone slab was.

"Ow! Man, what the heck is wrong with you?! Jumping out of the car like that, I could have broken my neck back there."

"Heh, sorry Luke. I'm used to everyone else who rides with me to jump out with me." He rubbed the back of his neck while looking embarrassed.

"Well, give a guy a little more warning next time." I was trying to relax my neck muscle.

"Hey, isn't this the stone you were talking about earlier?" He pulled out his guitar and began to practice the cords that were glowing on the slab.

"Yea, why wouldn't it be?" Kind of confused to why he asked me that, I walked over and saw the slab was glowing that red-ish light from before. When I got to Eddie's side, the slab went back to the purple light and lettering that I played from.

"Whoa, hey!?" He looks from the slab to me and quickly back to the slab. I _heard_ the wheels turning in he's head. He tells me to take a few steps back and the lettering went back to the red. "Wow. I guess these notes change based on whoever is trying to read them. Awesome!"

When he finished memorizing the music, a loud guitar rift came out of nowhere and a metallic skull rose out from the back of the slab and hung over the stone while large metal spike grew from its sides.

"Dam, that was awesome!"

"Yea, mine was different though. When I played it, the music started to sound like one of Metallica's songs but it never did the whole skull thing."

At that moment, I realize that I'm not the only one who can do a decent 'fan girl'-like face. Eddie's version just had a little more drooling than mine. "Really! I wonder what would happen if …"

"That woman would probably be dead and the rest of your friends would not forgive you because you let her die JUST because you wanted to test out songs here."

"Whoa, shit. Yea, you're right. Let's get what we came here for and-" He spotted a bit of the web just past the gates and froze instantly.

"Hey, are you alright? You look like you seen a ghost."

"Yea, I'll be alright, I'm just not a big fan of-" He shivered. "-spiders."

"What? Not scared of a few spiders are you?"

"NO! I don't have a problem with them, not at least back home. They were so small. Here, it's like they mutated or something. They are dog sized, man! Dog sized!" I began to laugh to myself. And he noticed my laughing and chuckled a little.

As we went down the trail to the queen and battling off some baby and medium-sized spiders, we talk about different stuff, to keep our nerves down. When the baby spiders jumped on him, and never on me by the way, he jumped up and strum a cord that caused a small area earthquake that shook off the little buggers off.

"What the heck was that?!"

"Oh, I call that the Earthshaker. I used that to knock down a wall when I first got here. Clementine, here-" He pulled out his guitar off of his back. "-is a beaut, isn't she?" Then, he kissed it like it was his doll.

"That was you? I was on the little mountain near there when you did it."

"By the way, did you ever name your violin?"

"Well, it already has a name: DeS'tiny. It was my mother's before she died when I was young."

"Sorry to hear that, dude. If it means anything to you, I never knew my parents. Nothing. Not about who they were; what they were like; or where did they come from. I took care of myself when I was young, started to work for different bands, here and there, you know, trying to make a name for myself."

"I never knew much from my parents, either, aside from the stories my GrandD told me."

"GrandD?"

"Oh, sorry. That's what I called my grandfather. He raised me since I could remember." Tears began to blur my vision before I wiped them from my eyes. "He died about a month before I met you."

"Wow, I feel like crap now. I'm sorry for your loss."

"It's ok. I see it as he isn't in pain anymore."

"That's the way to think about it."

We finally reached the gates to the queen's chamber. I had a feeling like something bad is about to happen, until I heard the queen's voice in my mind.

_**~ Well, this maybe the last time I talk to you, Fated One. For what it is worth, I am glad that I met you. I have already told most of the others to let you take whatever is needed, but I may call upon them to protect me. So be ready to protect yourself. All I ask, after whatever is going to happen, is to give me a proper burial and protect the web. Most of all protect Jessica. Just remember, this wasn't your fault. This was all set in stone. ~**_

Eddie reaches out to open the gate, when the queen spoke to me one last time:

_**~ Oh, you may want to check the small cave in the back after my burial, as I left one last gift from me to you. ~**_

_Thank you, your majesty. It was a pleasure meeting you, as well._ The gate swung open, stopping only to make a loud metal clang. We walk in only to see the queen climb down from the web at the end of the path. Without Eddie noticing, the queen looked at me with eyes of relief and gave me a quick nod before she gave both me and Eddie an ear-deafening roar only a spider could give.

"I'll deal with her while you go and get those strings." He pointed over to the web behind the behemoth of a spider.

"Alright. Just remember we don't have much time." I stretched my arms a little and made a dash for the strings. The queen didn't notice me except for a few of her eyes saw me and winked before they went back and focus on Eddie. I pulled my bow from my side and worked on getting the strings.

"Okay, so I would ask for your giant bass strings politely…" I looked over and saw Eddie was trying to talk to the Queen, but failing miserably. I kind of chuckled to myself at that. "But, you don't look like the talking type-"_ Oh, man. You are so wrong._ "- so out of personal respect I'll get straight to the ass kicking."

When I finished collecting the strings, Eddie and the queen were still trading blows here and there. The queen arched up, eyes turning from her calm blue to burning red, and tries to spawn baby spiders to help her when he took out Clementine and did a power cord to call forth a bolt of lightning to strike the queen. She spazed out and fell to the ground unconscious with her exoskeleton on her swung open, revealing her brain which looked like the motor from the Deuce. Eddie took this opportunity to take his axe, the bladed one not the guitar, and slashed at the queen a few times, waking her back up. She quickly ran to one of the chamber's walls and climbed up the web there as she called for backup. Four normal spiders came to their queen's rescue, three of which went straight for me and the fourth saw me and ran to rub up against me. I shushed the spider and asked it to stay with me, not watching its brothers and sisters being slaughtered in front of it. The spider looked at me with its glowing red eyes for a minute, then the red turned to the calming blue I know and shook its head yes. It climbed on my back, away from all the fighting. After a few more times that felt more like 'rinse and repeat', Eddie dealt the final blow to the queen of the spiders. With one last stand, the queen fell with so much force, the ground shook for a few seconds. I walked over to Eddie, carrying the strings in tow.

"That took way too much time. We are going to have to book it to get these to the Kill Master." Eddie looked around and began to smile. He walked over to one of the walls and pulled on a piece of metal that was sticking out. With one last tug, the bar came out with a cloud of dust. He waved away some of the dirt in the air and just smiled. The bar was actually a handle bar to a motorcycle. "You know what I'm thinking?"

"That we should get our buts in gear and get the heck out of here." I know, I know. Almost every other word that comes out whenever anyone here talks is a profanity, but just like the beer thing, I can doesn't mean I will.

He sighed. "Well, that too." And at that, he began to pull things out from different places and put them together like one big 3D puzzle. After a few seconds, Eddie was sitting on the Frankenstein of motorcycles.

I whistled. "You're gonna have to teach me how to do that."

"Heh, trade secret. Now get those strings in the back and hop in."

I looked over at the corpse of the queen. Sigh. "No, you go on. You'll be faster if it's just you."

"Ok, meet you at the top. This baby isn't pretty but let's hopes she's fast." He kick starts the bike and took off back up the path toward the Kill Master. I had to whistle at that.

The spider climbed down from my back and nudge over its mother. I walked over to the grief-redden spider and tried to relax it. "Okay, little guy-" At that moment, the spider swiped at my hand with _her _leg nearly cutting me while _her_ eyes began to fade from blue to red. "-girl, that's what I meant." She cooed in my hand like a cat. "Let's give your mother a proper burial."

I looked around to see if I could find something that would act as a shovel when the spider nudged at my leg with a bottle of blacken liquid and a note:

_Find a spot and dig a small hole._

_Pour the Black Tears into the hole. Focus on how big the hole needs to be and stand back._

_Guide the corpse(s) into the puddle._

_Cover ALL with dirt. (Play with Sorrow)_

_Smash bottle and put remaining glass onto grave._

_WARNING: DO NOT DRINK BLACK TEARS. DO NOT COME INTO CONTACT WITH IT._

Whoa… I folded the note up and put it into my pocket.

So keeping to my promise, I took a piece of metal from the queen and dug in the middle of the chamber. I pop the cork off the bottle and pour the 'Black Tears' into the hole, focusing about the size of the queen with room to spare for the others. Without a doubt, the hole expanded into a circle large enough for the queen and the other dead spiders. Surprisingly, the queen was light for her size, weighing about as heavy as a large bag of dog food, about 50 lbs. I pulled the body to the edge of the puddle, went back around the body and pushed it all the way in. It landed with a small splash, making sure that neither the spider nor I got hit with the Tear, and then the body slowly was sinking into the black goo. As this was happening, I began to bring the rest of the corpses of the fallen to their watery grave. I looked over to see the young spider was helping me with her brothers and sisters. Now, all I have to do is to 'Play with Sorrow', whatever that… wait. I pulled out DeS'tiny with its bow and began to play the first song that popped into my head, focusing on the feeling I had when I was at GrandD's deathbed… and now. I poured every bit of memories of that with all the sorrow that they bring. I didn't recognize the song I was playing until I took a deep breath: '_Alone I Break'._ Just about finished with the song when the ground slowly swallowed the watery tomb. When the ground closed up, a statue like the one the Kill Master keeps rose from the ground, dripping wet with the Tears. I took the bottle and filled it half way. You'll never know when you need it.

I looked back at the spider that was shivering with sorrow then looked up at me. "If you want to, you can stay with me, but we are going to have to name you first. Is that ok?" She looked at me for a second, thinking, and accepted with a small nod. "Hmm. I don't know what to name you."

_** Niobi.**_

_Why 'Niobi'?_

~_ Because that's what Jessica named me._ ~

Oh boy, wait… _Did we just-_

_~ -became in sync? Yes I think we did. ~_ Niobi started to shake a little, I guess she was giggling. I guess my mother's influence is now kicking in. The name kind of suited her, too. I had a friend- more like a crush -on a girl named Niobi once. Let's just say it didn't go too well… for her.

_~ Mother wanted me to give you this, also. ~_ She whistled just like how her mother did before. We heard a load roar of a motor inside cave. I turned around in time to see a bike flying out of the cave. And boy, it was a thing of beauty. The frame of the bike was made to look like one of the riding spiders with its head underneath the handle bars, its front and back two legs holding on to the wheels by the axel, while the other legs was holding on the engine underneath it. On the side of the frame, stitched into the metal, had the name of the bike in the same gold lettering on DeS'tiny: '_Arachnid's Fate'_. The rims were like webs coming from the center of the wheels to the edges. The handle bars were like the stripe of tightly woven web that Jessica used for a weapon with brake levers coming off the handles on each end. The wheels themselves, however, was the coolest part, they were liquid and bubbling like the Black Tears. Found out that it uses the Black Tears as _fuel_. I touched the wheels and felt that they are solid like rubber but made from the Tears. I pull back my hand to see the black where I touched the wheel was being drained into my fingers. Whoa, trippy. So, I returned DeS'tiny back to its holder, just underneath where Niobi was on my back and got on the back. I was in training to learn how to ride a bike, so I guess it was time I put my skills to the test. Before I could start it, the bike started itself. I was going to rev up the engine, but the bike rev'ed itself. I had a theory. I thought about going forward, making sure I was holding on to the bar as I did, and surely enough, the _Fate_ moved forward. Dam, I hate being right sometimes. So, all I had to do is to imagine the way back to the Kill Master. I looked back at the grave and smiled. "Thanks." I hold the route to the Kill Master in my mind and rode _Arachnid's Fate_ all the way from the Lair to the Kill Master and man did we go. I thought the bike that Eddie threw together was fast, but the _Fate_ was on another level.

We got back to the amphitheater in time for the Kill Master to work his magic. As soon as he saw me pull up on _Fate_, everyone other than Niobi, the woman on the bed, and myself of course, whistled. In unison. "Where did you pull that relic from?" Lowering his glasses to make sure he made eye contact with me.

"I… I, uh. It was a gift from a friend. It-" As soon as I got off of _Fate_, it fell into pieces. Well, I did gun it all the way back. "-was a great bike." I began to pout. I just got the thing and after the first run, it breaks down. I looked up at the sky and saw the sun was setting behind Thunderhorn.

_Hey. You can go and see Jessica if you want._

_~ Oh, I haven't seen her in a long time. I hope she's alright. ~_

_She will be. Just don't tell her about the grave yet. I want to be the one who tells her._

_~ Alright. It shall be done. ~_ And with that, Niobi crawled her way down my back and off to find Jessica, assuming that she's in the back.

"Well, anyways. Nice work about the strings, boys. Thick like a baby's arm, and just as soft." He put his hand together and popped his knuckles. "Let's take these for a test drive." He starts to tune the bass and when he got it to the right level, he began to play like he did earlier. The woman began to glow with a golden aura as her injuries rapidly healed themselves. The light faded away when she woke back up. She blinked a couple of times and focus on Lars.

. Lars moved a little closer to the woman, "Ophelia…"Eddie brightened up, but slummed back down. _So, Eddie has a little crush on her. _"Lars… I knew I can always count on you." …_What the Heck… _*Sigh* I walk over where Eddie is and patted him on the back, reassuring him. "Maybe it's not your time yet." He looked over at me and nodded "Yeah."

That's when everything froze, Eddie, Kill Master, even the freaking sun froze… except for me. A blob of lava boiled up from the ground near what was the _Arachnid's Fate _and took shape of a… well, a man-shaped cocoon. The cocoon exploded and there in its place stood a hooded figure. It was wearing a black robe with its hood up, covering itself from head to toe and had tassels hanging from the sleeves and had a cross stitched in gold on his back. What- Whoever it was, they didn't know that I wasn't frozen. "'Bout bloody time I find you." It waved its hand over the parts of the _Fate_. The parts turned into lava and were being sucked down _through_ the ground. When the last of the lava seeped through, I was _pissed…_

"HEY YOU!"

The figure turned and saw me dashing toward him. "Whoops. I forgot about _**that**_!" It turned back into lava and went underground, leaving only a scorch mark and the smell of brimstone. That **thing's **voice was booming in the air.

_I_f You Want To See The Improvements I Made, Come See Me Soon…

_What the hell does that mean?_

"Hey…" I felt a hand on my shoulder, scaring the heck out of me.

"Holy shit! Don't do that, man." Eddie gave me a confused look.

"I should be the one saying that. For a couple of seconds, you just froze… Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yea, I'll be fine." _No, I won't. If I see that son of a …_

"Oh, yea. There's someone I want you to meet. I have to warn you. He looks like someone famous back home, but he's not."

Questioning his motives, I gave Eddie the 'Just-get-on-with-it' look. He just shrugged it off and turned and saw the scorch marks where the parks were. "What happened here?"

"Long story. Who is it that you wanted me to meet?"

"I'll just take you to him." He pulls Clementine and plays the solo again to summon the Deuce. We hop in and started back down Thunderhorn.

A few miles away down the road, Eddie takes us into a garage that looks like a motor block with a skull that looks like it was from a biker gang. As we approach, the door to it begins to open Eddie pushes forward. Instead of a huge garage like I was expecting, we kept traveling down a bendy cave until it opened to an enormous cavern and the path ended to a rocky platform. Loud clangs of metal reverberate throughout the cavern, as titanic forge masters brought their hammers down upon their anvils in the distance, striking metal against metal. The smell of fire and brimstone fills the air, for the entire bottom of the cavern is made from molten magma.

I felt my anger slowly subsiding into amazement. "Eddie… What is this place?"

He jumps out of the Deuce. "I don't really know. I just call it the Motor Forge."

Just as the voice boomed like before, it was even louder now. Only instead of talking, it was laughing. _It's that same son of a… hold on a sec. I know that laughter._ I looked back at Eddie, seeing if I was hearing right. He just nodded while he was leaning on the Deuce. Out of the blue, a spout of magma jumped from the cavern bottom and landed just a few feet away from me. The magma took form as the familiar man-cocoon and exploded with the hooded figure in its place. The man swiftly turned around facing me and Eddie, lowered his hood, and spoke while held his arms out and away:

"THE GUARDIAN OF METAL WELCOMES YOU!"

_Ozzy!? Ozzy Osbourne, the mother-freaking-prince of darkness, stole my bike… or what was left of it._

"Took your bloody fucking time to get here, man."

"I didn't know this place was here."

Eddie called over to the two of us."You guys catch up. I'll be here tuning this baby up."

"Anyways, sorry about what happened back there. I forgot that 'Thing'-" Gesturing toward DeS'tiny on my back. "-could block my powers from its owner."

"What? You couldn't just come by and say, 'Hey! I'm the Guardian of Metal and I'll be fixing your bike!' Speaking of which, you said you improved it. Now, where in the fu-" The Guardian hold up a finger, silencing me.

"Hasn't anyone told you that you talk way too fucking much?" He quickly snapped his fingers, summoning a roar of an engine that reverberated all around the cavern, causing the masters to stop and see what made that song. I moved over to the edge and saw whatever it was that made that road, drawing a black stripe over the magma racing toward us. As it got closer, a metal ramp rose slowly out of the magma. It was the _Arachnid's Fate! _Using the ramp, the _Fate_ jumped and landed to a screeching halt between me and the Guardian.

I felt my jaw drop. Improved it? Hell, more like overhauled it. The Guardian gave a slight bow. "I present to you: the _Fate of the Tear_. Every part from the old Fate went into this beautiful piece of mastership." I know I'm going to sound geeky, but the bike went from this old relic of a bike to something that came straight from a comic book. The frame was still the spider, only with ridges on the legs and a dark, metallic purple on the inside of the legs. A metal symbol of the Fated Coil was in between the front legs. A tightly woven spider's web covered the center of the bike, giving the engine more protections. The handle bar was bent like how those old Harley bikes were like when you were riding you can hang back and relaxing your shoulders. He even put a second seat in the back and a set of black leather saddle bags with the faction's symbol outlined in purple on each side. However, the wheels looked the same. When I noticed the wheels, the Guardian popped up. "Oh, and do be careful with those. They are actually made with the real Black Tears, not that bloody pseudo fakes. From the Sea, itself."

I turned back, about to thank the Guardian for fixing the _Fate_, when he stood, just inches away. "I will only tell you this only once. Do not play this-" He handed me a folded note. I opened it and saw it was a filled music sheet. "-unless in a dire emergency. It works better the closer you are to the Sea."

"You mean the same sea that the fuel of the _Fate_ came from?"

"Yea, The Sea of Black Tears. Nasty stuff, that is. Whoever drinks from it is said to gain some of the powers of Aetulia, but with the price of her sorrow as well, turning even the strongest of the men to destroy themselves to get away from the grief. The only one I know of that resisted the temptation of the Sea was Eddie's father, Riggnarok."

"Whoa…" I looked over at Eddie. He was still tuning up his car. I didn't know if he heard what was said, but it felt like he did.

"Oh, before I forget, I added some _extra_ bangs." He flips a switch on the handle bar and a twin of machine guns folded out of the sides, the same ones I saw Eddie just installed onto the Deuce. At the ends of the bar popped a pair of triggers that were pointed toward the front. "These babies will cut down anything in your path. The best part is that all you have to do is hold down just one of the triggers." The Guardian walks over and gets on the _Fate_ and pulls one of the triggers for only a few seconds, causing the guns to spin up, fire a few rounds, and slowly stops spinning. He lets go of the right trigger and pulls the left, having the same effect as the right one. "But if you press this button here…" He showed the button on the bottom of the handle with his thumb and pressed, causing the exhaust to shotgun out a blast of Black Tears and everything the shot hit started to bubble and burn. "Then, it will shoot a blast of hot Tear out from the back, killing any who's dumb enough to try to catch you. As for those who survive, the Tears will eat away anything that it came in contact with. For one last finale, I installed a smaller version of the Mouth of Metal, for those long trips on the road." With a slight twist of a knob, the Mouth came alive, but instead of metal music like Eddie's came Panagron's voice.

**Lucas! I don't know ******* can hear******Web******under attack******found us******please help!**

There was a sudden scream, and then static filled the air before the Mouth began to play music again. Eddie got out from under the Deuce just in time to see me climb onto the _Fate of The Tear_.

"Guardian, can you help in any possible way?"

"In fighting? No. I'm more of a keeper than a fighter. But what I can do is change the exit to the closest Forge exit to the Web." He then snapped his fingers again and I heard the sound of a mountain moving, coming to a stop with a loud crash.

"That will do. Eddie, I don't know if I'm able-" Eddie held up a hand.

"Don't talk like that. I'll be right behind you with a few friends. Go on." I gave him a nod, showing both my thanks and acknowledgement. Just like before, I willed the _Tear_ forward and took off like a bat out of hell followed by a streak of Black Tear. It didn't take long for me to get to the exit. When out of the Forge, I realized it took me to the other side of Thunderhorn, just a half a mile from the Web. About half way there, I heard the sound of marching metal. I looked over my shoulder to see a metal spider about the same size of the late queen, catching up to me.

~ _Hello, Lucas. I see you got the _Fate_ fixed. ~_

It took me a minute to realize that the spider was Niobi. _What the heck happened? You were a lot smaller when I left with Eddie._

~ _Jessica fed me a root that was only used for a queen. At least now I know why. ~_

Damn… gone for a few minutes and miss a lot of things. _~ So where are we going, Sir Knight. ~_

_Off to the Web of the Coil. They are under attack._

_~ Then, there isn't any time to lose. ~ _She spit a line of web connecting the spider highway above us and connected the other end to the ground, then began to climb the string hurrying toward the Web. Cautiously and carefully, I drive the _Fate_ up the line and followed Niobi.

When we got there, the battle was still going. Panagron, a few of his nuns, and what's left of the monks was holding off Doviculus' raiding party. There was a warfather and two battle nuns like the ones helping Panagron. The rest of the party mainly consisted of a whole bunch of leather-bound demons in crimson full body suits with metal blades coming out of their heads; I think Panagron told me about them, calling them Soul Kissers. While the Soul Kissers were holding off Panagron and the monks, a large body has destroyed one of the pillars around the Web with a large spiked ball attached to a long chain. Whatever it is, it appeared to be headless until I realized that the ball it was using **was** its head. The raiding party already killed most of the monks, some of their bodies being dragged off by Soul Kissers, while the warfather and battle nuns stood in the back healing the rest of the group and shielding both them and the father from blasts of energy from Panagron and the other nuns. I looked up at Niobi, seeing her looking back at me.

_Guess it's time to let loose the dogs of war…_


	7. ch5 Clearing Before the Storm

**A/N: Due to the uncertainty of the descriptions of this chapter, Throttle of Metal is now M Rated. You have been warned.**

**On other note, I know this chapter is short but I felt that this had a good place for a cliffhanger... *Insert Evil Laugh Here!***

**Please, Rate and review. All criticisms are welcome!**

_**~With that said~**_

_**~ENJOY!~**_

* * *

_**Throttle of Metal ~ Chapter Five: Clearing Before the Storm**_

Niobi shot another length of webbing down from the highway down to the base of one of the pillars closest to us and we proceeded to climb down stealthy… until a part of the raiding party came out of the forest and spotted us as we touched down. Niobi roared the same way the queen did at me and Eddie and rushed off toward the group, slashing and cutting limb for limb. _Remind me to never get on your bad side._ Somehow, Niobi heard that and giggled as she was attacking the Soul Kissers.

I continued to will the bike toward the forces Panagron's group was holding off, passing multiple blackened craters and dead bodies from both sides and keeping score of which side was losing. Our side didn't look too good. I pressed the button to release the _Fate's_ guns and began to mow down any of the raiders that were in my way. Just as I was about to join Panagron, I barely dodged the giant skull that was thrown at me and fell off my bike into the mixture of blood from both sides and dirt. The _Fate_ continued to slide away till it slowed to a stop a few feet away from the entryway of the Web. As I got up, I brushed off some of the mud that was on me and pulled out DeS'tiny's bow. A few of the Soul Kissers broke off from attacking Panagron and went after me with demonic speed. Unfortunately for them, I was faster. The first kisser went and slashes at me with its metal blade-like pipes coming out of its head, but I managed to roll to the side and slashed off its head with a gentle sweep with little resistance. The second was too scared to do anything but stand in the back and quiver in fear while the other two jumped over the second and dived at me. I slid right under the two diving, slashing at them, only to stop at the frightened one and cut it in two. The best part was I never got a single drop of blood on me.

I got back up and continued toward where Panagron and the rest of the Fated Coil were at when the giant with the skull and chain grazed my left side and spun me around before landing face first in the mud… again. Crushing pain clenched my entire left side to feel at least two of my ribs have broken, twisted my knee, and spat out any blood I had in my mouth. When I got back up, the entire weight of my pain hit me, making me dizzy and light-headed. I gathered as much strength and blocked out most of my pain and stopped the dizziness. Still having the bow in my hand, I pulled out DeS'tiny and almost began to play the healing song again when I had to jump to the side, dodging as another attack from the giant nearly took my legs out from under me. With that last dodge, I ended up right beside Panagron as I felt the magic of the nuns healing my wounds and lifting some of the pain off of me.

"My liege! Thank the gods you heard me! The party just attacked about a few hours ago." He sounded worried as he looked back at the battle nuns. "These are the last two nuns. We are what are left of the Fated Coil." I looked around the small group of monks, Panagron, and the two nuns. "Isn't there any way we can recruit anyone? Can we not summon some Soul Kissers of our own?"

He looked a little startled. "When your mother created this faction, some of the nuns pledged not to 'birth' new troops if they didn't want to. After a few generations, the nuns forgot how to give 'birth' to some troops. But there is a possible way-" As he was about to finish, I noticed the giant threw its skull toward where we are at and managed to push Panagron and one of the nuns out of the way while the other one tried to catch the spiked skull, saving us but at the cost of her own life. "Panagron, you said there may be a way, right?"

He started scratching under is… chin, thinking. "Possibly, but I don't see-" He couldn't finish was he was saying before I dashed toward the giant form. It saw what I was doing as it was about to do an overhead swing like if it was about to chop a piece of wood, until I slid between its legs and managed to pass the enemy warfather and three battle nuns with him.

I quickly stood up, brought DeS'tiny up to play. "Enough of this…" I intended to do the Earthshaker like Eddie's but ended up more of a focused version. Instead of a circle of earth-shaking power with me in the center, DeS'tiny produced the same power but into a cone practically doubling the range and hitting who or whatever was in front of me. In this case, the backs of the enemy force. The blast hit the father and the nuns like a train knocking them unconscious, each of their bodies hitting the giant in the back knocking him on top of the rest of the kissers, killing the ones truly underneath it and trapping the rest. Apparently, took a lot more damage than it was showing. While the father and the nuns were starting to wake up, the giant continues to struggle trying to get up as its weapon of a head was taunting us:

"_YOU TRAITORS! MAY YOUR SOULS BURN IN THE FLAMES OF ÖRMAGÖDIN, HIMSELF! YOU WRETCHED CURS!"_

I gathered all the pain I have endured and began to play _'Unforgiven'_ again, focusing only on the enemies in front of me while I closed my eyes. As I felt the magic taken hold, I opened my eyes to see that, instead of the faint glowing from the last time I played it; black tendrils with a faint purple aura came from DeS'tiny and wrapped themselves around the group of enemies, causing each one of them to twist and wither in pain slowly as not just my pain but Panagron and the other survivors as well. As I was playing, the warfather screamed out in pain: "We yield! For the love of all things metal, we give! Please show us mercy!" I slowed my playing enough where I was still healing our group but withdrawn the tendrils.

"Why should I?! You attacked my people, you attacked my mother's home, and you have the balls enough to desecrate our dead by dragging them off to whoever gave you these orders! You better give me one hell of a reason why I shouldn't drain your life right now."

"We didn't even want to, well, not at least the nuns and myself. That hellish brute of a raker-" Gesturing to the ever-so-taunting mass of flesh that was still trying to get up, releasing the few kissers that were still alive. "- only came to keep us in line."

"Wait, I thought the Tainted Coil had some sort of a command system."

Panagron answered back. "A hierarchy? They do as do us, but after Doviculus took the throne, he continuously hunted those who joined your mother down bit by bit, enslaving and torturing us."

"So, you're telling me that you and those nuns-"

"And the kissers, too."

"-Right and them too, are originally part of the Fated but got enslaved by Doviculus and forced to attack us?"

The wounded warfather was hesitant at first, but nodded slowly.

Sigh. "Their blood." Panagron said with the most serious look he had ever given me. The first, actually.

"What?"

"Test their blood. If they were part of the Fated, it will show in their blood." He turned to one of the still living monks and asked for something. The monk nodded, hushed down into the Web, and came back with a pure white plate. Panagron thanked the monk and pulled a small knife from within his robes, approached the downed father. "Please give me your hand." Reluctantly, the father held up his hand only for Panagron to cut right across the palm and had him bleed a small amount of blood onto the plate and brought it to me as the last of our nuns bandaged the wound. I looked at the small amount of blood and saw that within the crimson substance was a black whirlpool within it. "That, the black swirl in the blood, is the sign that the person has drunken from the Sea of Black Tears. That is why we are called traitors by anyone from the Tainted. Jeschum thought if by drinking from the Sea it would 'wash' away our unnecessary thoughts."

"TORTURE! PAIN IS OUR PLEASURE, YOU MAGGOT-FESTING mhghjo" One of the monks took the raker's fallen arm and shoved it into its mouth, gagging it to shut it up. I nodded to him, thanking him for gagging that bastard up before I really lose my temper.

"The Black Tears were known to corrupt humans with power and the price of grief, but not even the Emperor, herself, knew what the dark waters would do to the Coil. Jeschum was put in charge of experiment with the Tears and found out that if any of the fathers or nuns drink from it, they would be overall better than the normal hierarchy and could 'birth' more powerful troops, but as the humans had a price, so did the Coil. The hierarchy that drunk from the water lived only half their normal lives and for any units that were birthed normally would drink would die after a few minutes after. They ended up having the weight of all the pain they have caused and would cause dropped upon them, killing themselves to end it all. After all the suicides and half-lived hierarchy, the Emperor sealed the Sea before any more would suffer… until Doviculus released it to deal with the human uprising. Jeschum had a vision of this beforehand and took a small group of volunteers to the Sea, not to drink from it but to be washed in it, myself included. Doviculus heard about this group and silently had most of us to be assassinated. Taking this as a threat, she went alone to the Sea and returned with new found powers, the same that made her infamous with the Tainted. After this, she took the survivors of the volunteers and created the Fated Coil." As Panagron explained, the rest of the Fated tested the nuns and kissers that remain. The nun looked up at me confirming that the father and the rest of his group were indeed part of the Fated.

"You keep on saying 'birth'. Why?"

"The Tainted was and still is all about debauchery and torture, so they evolved so all they had to do were to procreate the forces." I know the music is about sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, but man, they are going by the book on this one… at least the first part anyways.

"Okay. You have proven yourselves worthy, as we need more 'recruitments'. As for those who broke off the group…" I whistled. Niobi, towing behind her three web sacks; two of which were moving, suggesting that they were the surviving ones who attacked us while the last one was still and was stained by fresh blood, was listening to the whole speech. Within the spider's webbing were a few more kissers and one nun. The new recruits cut free the captives and tested their blood; as all but one of the kissers was part of the Fated. It stood there, shaking with fear and looking from me to Niobi and back to me. And in an instant, the kisser dashed into a full sprint away from what's left of a battlefield. Unfortunately for the kisser, Niobi was faster. In a split second, she shot a line of web and hit her target squarely in the back. As Niobi began to reel her prey in, the kisser tried to use its metal appendages to get away. Ultimately, it was futile. When it got close enough, she grabbed the kisser and spun it into a cocoon, still alive until she bit into it with a final blow. I quivered, grossed out by the display of the 'survival of the fittest'. _I do not want to know…_

Niobi tilted her head, giving me a questioning look. _~ What? My children will need food when they hatch. ~_

"With this, Doviculus surely knows where the Lair is." Panagron told the other warfather and the nuns to begin the funeral rites and the disposal of the bodies.

"Yea, we need to find you a safe place-" I couldn't finish as Niobi already had a plan as to where she was going to stay. She began to climb the center spire and knocked the spider statue from its place. As a few strands of webbing as support, she took a longer piece of pure metal and worked the top to almost look like the Seattle Space Needle. With the rest of the faction disposing the dead, Niobi finished the needle only to continue to make a gigantic web with the needle as the center and each of its anchor points attached to the top of the still standing pillars. The web was looking more and more like a giant awning with a few spots open to let sunlight pass through as she was finishing. Niobi finished her web, with both of her food-filled egg sacs hanging toward the center of the web, just in time as the last of the burial rites were performed.

"Thank you for your help today, Niobi. I don't think they would last much longer if we didn't take the high road."

_~ No, I should be the one thanking you. Your presence alone relieved so much grief from mother. She died um… a gratifying death. ~_ I walked up to her and rubbed my hand on the top of her head, thanking her one last time.

~_ But… ~_

'_But' what?_

_~ We forgot about something. ~_

_We didn't… Oh crap._ I looked up in time to see Jessica, Eddie and his bunch rushing down the path to us. Eddie noticed Panagron and the others before they hid back down into the Web. Kill Master held Jessica and a few of the Ironheades on the path as Eddie, Lars, Lita, Ophelia and a few buffed out men with elongated necks with long brown hair bound by either bandanas or hats ran down with weapons drawn, ready to fight.

"WAIT! THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT PART OF THE TAINTED COIL!" They couldn't hear me as they were blinded by rage. A few of the ones with giant necks teamed with Lars and Lita as they went for the father and nuns, only stopped by Panagron's barrier. Niobi roared at Lars and the others, hoping to protect the others by drawing them away. All but the brother and sister combo ran away with fear as Lars continued to strike at the barrier and Lita was holding off Niobi. That left both Eddie and Ophelia to start attacking anything that wasn't behind the barrier, a few of the new Soul Kissers and one of the new nuns.

Quickly thinking of a way to calm everyone down enough to be able to listen to reason, I brought up DeS'tiny and played a few notes of the only few songs that calmed me down in my past as it played from my memory: that good ol' '_Sweet Child of Mine'_. I felt the familiar magic flowing out of DeS'tiny as all the fighting was slowly going away, going… going… gone. Everyone slowly lowered their weapons, quietly waiting for something to happen.

"Panagron, Niobi, please take the others down into the Web and come back. Looks like we have some explaining to do." With that, both the warfather and giant spider looked at each other and nodded back at me as they guided the others down the cave.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I should have told you all about this. If you want to leave, that's fine with me. But if I can, I would like explain all of this."

Eddie and company sheathed their weapons in silence, until… "See! Didn't I tell you that he was suspicious?!" Just as the tall blond finished, everyone snapped their heads and gave her the same look in unison.

"No, Lita's right. Please, can you all forgive me?"

Both Eddie and Lars looked at each other and nodded as they walked over to my sides, Ophelia gave a worried look at both the men and nodded following them. As for Lita… "You can't possibly… Fine! I'll go along this time, but if anything happens, you will have another mess to clean up." She jabbed her thumb at one of the blooded craters that the raker created. As we turned to enter the Web, both Panagron and Niobi met up with us at the entrance.

"We'll talk after I take care of the last of the guests in. Panagron, would you be so kindly to make our guest more hospitable?"

The warfather gave a small bow. "Yes, my liege." He faced the two pairs of humans. "Please, follow me." He lead them down the cave as I asked Niobi to help with the raker.

_~ Splendid. More food for my children! ~ _She quickly bit off the chain from the body, instantly killing the muffled name-calling of the talking mace head and wrapped both the head and body in separate cocoons, then carried them up to the other sacs.

I got on the _Fate_ and rode only to meet both Jessica and the Kill Master half way between the path and the Web.

"I got to say, for someone like you to find the rest of them this quickly is bloody fucking incredible."

Jessica looked at both of us like we were talking in a different language. "Who are 'them'?"

"The Fated Coil. Kill Master, if you would like, you and the others are more than welcome to join the others in the Web. I need to talk to Jessica."

He looked over his shades to glance between my serious look and puzzling look Jessica had. "Okay. I don't want any grandchildren from this." He laughed as he motioned the group behind him to follow behind him as they marched past us.

Jessica slowly waved at the small army as they went past. "Lucas, what did you want to talk about?" She turned to see me offering her the back seat of the _Fate._ Man, I can make a bad Terminator quote here but I need to get serious now. She got on and held on to my sides.

"Where… where are we going?"

"To the Lair. I need to talk to you alone." I willed the _Fate_ toward the spider highway to the Lair.

"You're scaring me now. What about?" I could tell she is scared because her arms was tightening around my waist with her head leaning on my back. I felt her warmth through the coat. _What will she do after I'll tell her?_

_**You are doing the right thing, son.**_

_I know it feels right, but I don't want to hurt her in any way. I think… I maybe in love… for the first time in my life, I think I found the one._

It was starting to get dark as we finally reached the center of the Lair. I stopped a few feet away from the grave as we got off the _Fate_. Jessica slowly got off the bike and went toward the statue in the center.

"Okay. We are here. Now, what is it that you want to talk about?"

I tried to hold back my emotions and kept a straight face as i asked:

"How much do you know about the person that saved you from the Coil?"


	8. ch6 Venom Within The Veins

_**Throttle of Metal ~ Chapter Six: Venom Within the Veins**_

The moon was rising. The wind is blowing calm and gentle. Jessica and I were at the grave of the late Metal Queen. And I just asked a question that surprised the heck out of Jessica.

"Wha… H-how did you know?" She looked a little startled like I pulled the curtain off of something she was hiding.

"Panagron, the warfather you saw me talking to, read to me pages of a journal that spoke of the writer saving a young girl from being enslaved by the Tainted Coil. Since you're the only 'Jessica' I know of since I've been here, I guessed it was you who was in those pages. Now, please, how much do you know about who saved you from the Coil?'

I closed my eyes, expecting right then and there that I was going to get slapped in the face again, but she didn't. I slowly opened my eyes to see her sitting on the damp cavern floor at the base of the statue of the Metal Queen, with her arms wrapped around her knee that were against her face.

"Jessica?" I reached down putting my hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean-"

As quick as one of the metal spiders, one of her hands bolted from her knee and grabbed my hand as she stood up with her head slightly bowed. She spoke in almost a whisper, speaking underneath her breath: "Come with me. There is something I need to show you."

She pulled- practically dragging – me over to the back, near the queen's cave. I couldn't see what she was doing, but after a slight and faint clicking noise, a hidden door popped open revealing a tunnel way. She quickly turned to face me, standing close enough to kiss me if she wanted. "How much do you trust me?"

"What?" _Is this a trick question?_

"How. Much. Do. You. Trust me?" We were standing so close that I would have never noticed how beautiful her eyes were, how they sparkle in the moonlight…

And man, was I blushing. "With my life…" _Why did I just say that? I mean… I just met this girl yesterday; she slapped me in the face. Twice. But, there is something there… What if she doesn't fell the same way?_

Jessica pulled me down into the deep darkness completely blocking out my sense of sight. The only thing I could feel is the warmth from her hand. Her pace kept going, on and on, feeling like eternity. Her hand holding on to my hand. Just the two of us, leaving the world behind us. It was amazing.

Finally, there was a faint light shining in the distance. I thought it came out into a shady part of the forest, light leaking through the cover of leaves. I was off by a mile. The tunnel came out into a huge cavern room with the walls splattered with crystals, making the room looking like it was reaching up and up into the sky. From the center of the room hung a giant piece of crystal in the shape of the North Star. Each of the crystals was infused with enough light that if alone, they would only glow as much as one glow stick, but with all of them together, the light was so intense it seemed like a cloudy day back home. Near the giant crystal star was a hole, about the size of a golf ball, near the point where the star met the ceiling was letting in enough sunlight to help the crystals holding onto their light. In the middle of the crystal room was a tall statue of a woman carrying a young girl on her back made from the perfect fusion of metal and stone. On the base of the statue was the symbol of the Fated Coil. There was a bronze plaque on the front of the base with words etched into the metal:

_Here stands Jeschum_

_The Spider Mistress of the Destined_

All of this was amazing and was too much to take in at once. I'd never expect a place like this would exist in the Age of Metal. I watched Jessica let go of my hand and walked over to the statue, dragging her hand effortlessly across the smooth surface.

"You know, it feels like it happened a lifetime ago. I can only remember bits and pieces of it. Of my childhood. Many of which had her in it." She gave a faint slime, shaking her head a little. "I was playing in the woods near my village when I was captured by the Tainted Coil. It felt like eternity but it must have been only a few days when the emperor brought the group I was in to Jeschum. Many of the adults were talking about how she could kill human and demon alike with only her whim, spreading the fear around the others. When the Emperor brought us in front of Jeschum, we expected she would pick a few for personal slaves and kill the rest. But the first few minutes, she stood up for us _against_ her own Emperor. When it came time for her to pick which of us she wanted, I was one of the first she spotted. She promised, right then and there in front of her emperor, to help me to go back to my parents. Even though she only picked a few of us from the group, she still was nice. She let us bathes after those days of marching in chains to get to the shoreline and then, gave us a feast that would feed the entirely group for months. Keeping to her word, she helped me escape to the main land. After that night, every so often, she would come and visit my village. Back then, we were the only ones known to tame the metal spiders. So, during her visits she would teach us how to defend ourselves against the Coil and brought down supplies to keep us well armed while we taught her and a few of her followers that would come with to help her with us how we tame and lived with the spiders. Most of the time, she and I would go and bond with the bigger spiders within the Lair, and eventually, with the queen herself. Then, one day, she didn't come. We didn't hear the rumor of the emperor's trip into the future until we heard that Jeschum went after the emperor a few months later. After that, when Doviculus took to the throne, he found our village, enslaving most of us and killing the rest. Only my father and I managed to escape."

"Is your father still alive?"

"Of course, he is. You've met him. He's the Kill Master." _Oh. My. God…_ I thought back to what he said before I took Jessica to the Lair and began to blush at the mention of the idea.

"As I grew up, my father would tell me stories he had heard about Jeschum. How most of her curiosity was in our traditions. Traditions that only my father and I know about any more… until now. Come over here." She pulls my hand to show me on the other side of the room. Almost a fourth of the room was dimmer than the rest. There was a small pool of darkened water; ever so often a small black tendril would break the surface of the water before it went back under. "Whoa… What is this?"

"This is the Pool of Forgotten Sorrows. Legend has it that this was the place where Aetulia was captured by the First King. When Örmagöden died in an exploding end, its blood flooded the entire world and killed all of the First Ones, releasing Aetulia free. But saddened by the death of the great fire beast, she was left in the darkness alone crying continuously, creating the Sea of Black Tears, until she turned into dust. This Pool is the first tears of Aetulia." She sighed like she let go of a great weight from her before she continued. "My father, who was the head of my village at the time, discovered this cave right underneath our village long before I was born. Instead of drinking from the Pool to gain the power to protect our village from the Sea, my father and the rest of the elders thought if the village bathed within these darkened waters it would help shield us from the temptation of the Sea. I was one of the first children they tried to see if its power would work." She went over to the edge of the Pool and brought one of her hands inches away from it. One of the tendrils started to caress her hand like it was trying to comfort her. "A few months after they bathed me in the waters of the Pool, I started to show signs of that would tell if someone drunk from the Sea itself." She stood back up and faced me while she rolled up one of her sleeves. The veins on her arm were as black as the moonless night, each of which seemed to squirm in small movements.

"One night, while Jeschum was here, other humans from different villages thought we were drinking from the Sea and went to destroy the cave. If Jeschum wasn't there at the time, they would have succeeded too. During the fight they were having, she fell into the Pool and didn't surface for a few minutes. When she did, her faint purple skin was a darker purple with black veins just like mine. Somehow, just looking at them, she caused some of them to kill themselves while the others ran away in fear. After all was said and done, her skin went back to normal, looking weak when she left to go back to her home. I think that somehow the Pool _knew_ about what happened and bonded with her, like it did with me. We had to seal the way into the cave at our village, but luckily, we mapped out most of the cave system and found another entrance at the Lair. Now that I told you this, I understand if you don't want to see me again…" She started to walk past me went I grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Jessica…"

"You don't understand, do you? How you are shunned by your own kind? Knowing how different you are from everyone else. The first boy I liked- I _cared_ about -I'd shown him all of this and he broke up with me later that night and found out that he hung himself the next morning. How-"

I did the bravest thing I could do to a girl: I kissed her. As soon as our lips touched, there was a flash of white over my eye with pictures moving all around me. They all showed the same little girl over and over again. Memories, they were all of Jessica's memories, from the time she was playing with some of the metal spiders near her village when she was young to the emotional destruction of the suicide of the boy she was just talking about. After seeing all of her memories, feeling all of their emotions and understanding how she felt with each one, all of the pictures faded into nothingness and the white slowly become the world that was around us. If I had to guess, the door swung both ways. As I was watching her memories, I assume she was watching mine. When I focus back on to Jessica, she was staring at me with wide surprised eyes that were tearing up as she continues to stare. It was silent in the cave for a few seconds while the both of us were blushing at each other, until I spoke out.

"Jessica!? I'm sorry! I-I… I didn't mean… I didn't want you to leave…I-" As I was stuttering over what I should say, Jessica came over and hugged me. "- I don't want you to be sad." I hugged her back, tightly. We stayed like that for a while… until I felt something move past my foot. I couldn't see what it was from her shoulder, but Jessica didn't notice it.

"Was… was she really your mother?" She rubbed her cheek on my shoulder to wipe the tears away. She pulled away enough where we could look at each other's faces, then I felt it again and this time she did too. We looked down and saw that somehow we managed to be in the middle of the Pool. "What the-?! How… how did we get here?!" She started to panic, trying to look around to see how we got to the center while she was holding onto me like she was trying to balance on something.

"I don't know… at least it isn't that deep." I looked and saw the tendrils were trying to help her, keeping her from falling in.

"Not that deep! Lucas, there is at least twenty feet of the Pool underneath us and we are just standing on top of it like-" She stopped moving and looked me straight into my eyes with amazement. "-how she did when she bonded with it…"

_Whoa… If she left a will somewhere, I need to find it and soon._ With her in hand, I guided us back to dry land. "I guess that answered your question." At that, we both chucked.

"I guess we need to head back." I nodded in agreement. She quickly pulled me in close and gave me another kiss. And this time, she kissed me on the cheek. "And thanks… for everything. I haven't talked to anyone about that in a long time. "

"You go on ahead. I need to be with her for a little bit." She nodded and went back up the path toward the Lair.

I looked back up at the statue and smiled. _At least I now know what she looked like._ As I was about to head up the path, when I felt a small tug on my pants leg. I turned to see that a tendril had a small grip on my pants and another one was outstretched, giving me a rose made from the same liquid as the Pool. I took the gift and gave a slight bow, thanking the Pool for it. I took the rose over to the statue, set it down at the feet and resumed back onto the path back to the surface.

I finally exited the tunnel to see Jessica was waiting for me by the _Fate_ with a warming smile and glint in her eye. She patted the front of the seat telling me it was time to go. With a relaxing sigh, I got on and revved up the engine. Jessica got on and wrapped her arms around me tightly. "I know this is going to sound weird but you are more than welcome to come and stay at the Web, if you want. With the queen dead and everything I mean…"

"Like I have a choice. And I know I'm not going back to leave with my dad. Beside…" She swung herself around to where she was face to face with me. "I think we need to get use to each other a little bit more." She kissed me quickly on the lips again before swinging back around, giggling to herself as she settles back in. I willed us back up the high road toward the Web. I glanced back up to the sky to see the moon was high above us. I had to guess that it was either close to or exactly midnight.

When we got back to the Web, Panagron was outside waiting for us. "I take it you two had a good trip?"

Jessica and I tried to twist our bodies to look at each other and giggled. "Yeah, I think we did."

We walked down into the Web only to find that everyone who came had left. Panagron explained that after we left he told the guest all that they need to know and gave them a small feast to thank them for at least trying to help. "A short while after the meal the one called Eddie thanked us for the meal and took the group with them, only leaving the Kill Master here to chat with me. He left about an hour ago. Presuming that the both of you haven't ate yet; I set a small part of the table up for you two. Is there anything else you will need this night?"

"I think that will do it."

"Then, if you will excuse me, I have a date with a nice pillow." He gave us a small bow and headed toward his chambers.

"Oh, one more thing Panagron."

He stopped and turned to face me again. "Yes, my liege?"

"Thank you for your help and for everything else."

I couldn't tell if he was smiling but he sounded happy. "Anything for you, my liege." He disappeared down the stairs for some well-needed sleep.

"'My liege'?" Jessica chuckled as we sat down at the table.

"Well, what else could he call me, being that I am his boss's son?" We both laughed.

We pulled the tops to reveal our dinner for us: Roasted urchin and beast; some kind of soft bread; two ice cold pitchers, one with beer and the other with water; and vegetables… Oh now they pull out the veges… There were only two of them, but still they were veges. One was like a broccoli with a metallic stem and the other was kind of like a potato with butter grown within it already. We ate as much as we could. I don't remember that last time I ate anything since I arrived here. After we finished eating, Jessica asked if there was a place she could get cleaned up at and I directed her toward the bathroom in my room. As she left, I noticed that she was carrying a bag of woven spider silk in her hand. _When did she have that?_ I shrugged and continued to clean off the table with the help of a few of the spiders that were still awake. I thanked them as they left toward the kitchen with the dirty dishes and made my way up to my room. I heard her taking a shower and left her to it without making myself looking like a peeping tom. I went into the closet and changed into a shirt that was three sizes too big and a pair of felt-lined sweatpants. Normally, I would sleep in only a pair of boxer-briefs but since I have a guest I would have to hold off on that one. I took a pillow and an extra blanket over toward the hammocks in the book corner and prepared it for someone.

"Well, where do I sleep?" _When did she…_ I turned to see her leaning on the door frame already dressed in her sleepwear: a big silk shawl. Oh my… I blinked a couple of times before I could say anything. "Y-you can take the bed. I'll sleep over here."

She giggled and made her way over to the bed. "This big ol' bed for little ol' me. There's enough room for the both of us." She got onto the bed and pulled the blankets back. "Oh, come on. I won't bite… much." She gave a wolfish smile as she lied down propping her head up with her hand waiting for me to climb in with her. If I was blushing before, I was blazingly now. I crept into bed, laying on my back and staring at the ceiling. She giggled and slowly crept closer enough where she wrapped an arm around me, cuddling up next to me. It almost felt like… "Are you wearing anything underneath?"

"Nope." Oh, crap… "Thank you for saving me." _What?_

"Saving you?"

"Yeah, for getting rid of the weight off my shoulders."

"You're welcome." She looked up and kissed me again, then laid her head back on my chest.

"You know, any other guy would try to have sex with me."

"But I'm not 'any other guy'."

"I know, that's why I like you."

*Gulp* "Um, hey Jessica?"

"Hmm?"

"After everything I have shown you, why did you stay with me?"

She laughed. "Because I love you, stupid." Wow…

We finally dosed off, embraced in each other's warmth. Waiting for what is next around the corner.


	9. ch 7 Fresh Air And Mosh Pits

_**Throttle of Metal ~ Chapter Seven: Fresh Air and Mosh Pits**_

* * *

_Swimming in the middle of a body of water. I look up to see a figure on the shore. I began to swim to the person, trying to call out to it but nothing is coming out. I keep swimming on and on, feel like eternity, until I felt something wrap itself around my ankle. I struggle to keep from going under while keeping the figure in my sights. I look up one final time to catch a glimpse of the figure only to find it has disappeared. My strength gave out; whatever that has ahold of me pulls me under into the pitch black void. I couldn't see anything, not even my own body. All I could feel was a great sorrow, a mind-numbing madness. I couldn't hear anything either, neither the waves above nor the air escaping my lungs until I heard someone laughing that sent chills down my spine and throughout my core. A single voice called out to me. It sounded familiar. Not of my mother, but of someone who I just met:_

_**CoMe aNd dRoWn WiThIn mE!**_

* * *

I awoke straight up in a cold sweat. _A nightmare. It was just a nightmare…_

I looked over and saw Jessica was still asleep with the entire blanket wrapped around her like a larger, warm, man-sized cocoon. I chuckled at the sight and walked into the bathroom to freshen up for the day ahead. As I was brushing my teeth, I saw the vein in my arms has blackened from the natural dark blue. I knew it wasn't normal for them to look like that but I guess it came from the bond with the Pool of Forgotten Sorrows I inherited from my mother among other things. I shook those thoughts out of my mind so I could finish.

I came back out to find Jessica had spread herself all over the bed and pushed some of the covers off of her. She was about the same height as I am with a body that men would kill for. All she slept in was a large woven spider silk shawl that covered most of her body. I knew she wasn't wearing anything underneath it for I found that out last night as w cuddled together until we fell asleep. I walked over and began to cover her up again until a hand shot out from underneath, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me into the tangled mess of a bed. She landed on top of me with her eyes still closed and hands exploring most of my upper body, rubbing me to make sure I was still me as she finally opened her eyes so that the both of us were staring straight into each other's eyes. We slowly began to kiss, little at a time until she broke contact and looked at me with a sleepy smile. "Good morning."

I smiled back and raised an eyebrow, trying to look as playful as I can be. "Do you always start the day off this way?"

"Wait and see what I'll do if we were married…" She giggled and gave one last kiss before she got up and made her way toward the bathroom. _Oh, I could get used to this._ She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "…If you are ever that lucky." She winked at me, teasing me with one last look of her barely dressed backside before she slinked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I knew what she meant. Her father, a bassist and biker that goes by the nickname 'The Kill Master', would put me through Hell and back before I could even hold her hand. Even though with the name like 'The Kill Master', he and his fellow 'Thunderhogs', a group of fellow bass-playing bikers, were recruited as healers into the faction call Ironheade by their leader, Lars Halford, and my roadie mentor, Eddie Riggs.

As I made my way to the walk-in closet near the bed, I heard Jessica starting to take a shower. I began to think what she would do if I joined her right now… probably kiss me again and then kick my ass to kingdom come. I t still didn't keep me from imagining what she would look like right now. I began to feel myself blushing as I started to change into a pair of pitch black jeans with a metal-studded belt and a shirt with the symbol for my faction, The Fated Coil, instead of the tribal one with a clean pair of matching black socks and matching boots. _Hmm. I think a new name for the faction is in order._

I stood in front of the door to the bathroom. "Hey, I'm going to head out for some fresh air, ok?"

"Okay. See you when I get out." I could feel that she blew a kiss to me through the door, so I blew one back. I put on my trench coat, strapped on DeS'tiny and its bow, and then made my way to the main hall of the Web. It seemed that nobody except the metal spiders that were living with us were still asleep. I followed the path out of the Web to see that it was almost dawn. I seemed earlier than that because of Niobi's web was blocking some of the light. She was a spider that I took in after the death of her late queen, smaller than what she is now, In the past day since I met her, she went from being a little bit smaller than the others to about the same size, if not bigger than, the late queen. I looked up toward the top of the center spire to see Niobi staring back at me as she was climbing down to greet me.

"Good morning, your highness. Did you sleep well?" I raised my hand to meet her head when she finally reached the bottom.

She made some sort of clattering noise from within her. I assumed that was her giggling at me.

_~ I slept rather well, Sir Knight. A few of the sacs are almost ready to hatch if you wish to stay and watch. ~_

I looked to see a few of her egg sacs, all full of her eggs and food for the young ones, were squirming around, causing them to sway from side to side as they hung from strands of silk from the web above.

"I would love to see that after breakfast, of course. I think Jessica would love that too." Niobi nodded slightly and made her way back up to return to her sacs, making sure they are securely reinforced to the web above. I turned back, making my way into the Web again.

When I entered the main hall, I spotted Panagron was talking a few of the 'new recruits': two nuns, a warfather like Panagron, and a couple of Soul Kissers. Instead of the normal dark red-ish maroon colored jacket, he was wearing one that was more purple and had the faction's symbol embroider as a darker color that made it looked like it was faded into that jacket while still carrying his book- I think it was something like a bible to the Tainted Coil –with the golden chain attached to his bookmark within the book, but at the end of the chain was a golden talisman of our faction's symbol instead of the symbol of his old faction.

"We will not force you to join us, but personally, I will strongly advise that you stay here. If you were found by the Tainted Coil again, I fear that they will kill you on the spot." The recruits started to mutter and whispered to themselves as I walked to Panagron's side.

"Ah, good morrow, my liege." He turned back to the small group. "This is Lucas, our current leader and the son of the creator of the Fated Coil, Jeschum."

"Good morning to you too, Panagron. Forgive me for intruding, but I overheard your speech and I agrre with him. We are not going to force you to join or stay here, but I would recommend you all to stay at the very least. To keep your heads down, as it were."

The warfather looked back to the nuns as they talked about what thery are going to do. As they finished, the warfather turned back to us, "We agreed to stay, but as for us joining, we will talk to the others. Expect an answer by sun down." _Others?_ The warfather and the nuns gave a slight bow and turned to leave to the rest of their group. I felt a few small nudges and saw an unusually small Soul Kisser- its height only came up to my knee while the others were waist high –was rubbing a side of its head on my leg. It felt like it was shaking when Panagron saw it.

"Heh. Looks like we got our first true recruit." He knelt down to its level, rubbed its back, and with a nod, the Soul Kisser turned and left to catch up with the rest of the group.

I gave Panagron a worried look, "It seems like we got our first true recruit."

He chuckled and shook his head, "It wasn't scared. It was purring."

I stood there, still trying to figure out how it could purr. "By the way…" I gestured toward the Soul Kisser and its group. "What did he meant by 'others'?"

"Hmm. I don't know. Hew was talking to me this morning, hinting at something involving some doubts within the Tainted." He waved his hand in the air, like he was trying to sweep something away, "We can talk to him about that later. I assume the young miss is up as well?"

I nodded. "Yea, she was taking a shower when I left the room."

"Ok, then. I'll go see what we can do for breakfast, if you would excuse me."

"Oh, before I forget…" He stopped and turned back to face me. "One more thing: I was thinking that since both our and _their_ factions sounded too similar. So, I thought about changing ours to something else. Would that be okay?"

"Now that you mention it, I do see your point." He brought up one of his hands and placed it under his chin as I began to see the wheels in his head turning. "I'll talk with the others and we'll come up with some names before night fall." He gave me a nod and went towards a door- assuming that it leads into the kitchen –to see about breakfast.

A few minutes later, a few of the metal spiders were setting up the table for me, Jessica, and the rest of the faction. I went back to my room to see if she was ok to find her just coming out of the shower with a pair of towels, one wrapped around her hair and the other covering her body. I froze instantly. _Aw crap. I knew it. I should have knocked first. Maybe she didn't notice yet. If I could just-_

I was slowly turning when I saw a hand shot out and closed the door before I cloud get to it. She was standing there with one hand on the door and one holding on to her towel, making sure it didn't fall off. When my eyes met hers, I felt myself began to blush and brought up a hand to cover my eyes. "I'msorryimsorryimsorry! I meant to knock first!"

I peaked through a space in between my fingers to see Jessica started to slowly strolled towards me, while slowly pushing me back into the center of the room. She finally came to a stop right before I tripped and fell onto the bed. She stopped and laughed as she pulled off the towel on her head to let loose her damp hair as she rubs the towel through it.

I let out a relaxing sigh. "I just came to see if you were done with your shower and ready for some breakfast."

"It would have been easier just to say 'yes', but where is the fun in that?" She gave me a wolfish grin as she returned to the bathroom.

I looked back at the bed to find it fully made except for the corner I landed on. "Did you sleep well last night?" Thinking back when I found out her choice of sleepwear, I felt like I was blushing again.

"I slept great since I had a full-sized teddy bear to cuddle with." I felt my cheeks just coloring up by the second. After a few minutes, she came back out… and man, she looked great. She wore a tribal shirt just like the one I had on yesterday, a dark blue leather vest over it, a pair of black jeans with the legs cut off at the knee, a pair of fishnet gloves that reached up a little past her elbows with matching stockings, and a pair of black bikers boots. I couldn't look away from her, and when she saw me like this, she giggled while brushing a strand of her hair out of her eyes. "I take it that you like what you see."

I felt my pants was beginning to feel a little too small, causing me to blush a lot more than before as I reached for a pillow to cover myself. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. She was fighting back a laugh as she continued to watch me acted like a fool. I finally got off the bed, fully relieved for my pants began to feel normal again. After straightening myself up, I gave a slight bow and stuck out my arm. "Shall we go?"

She giggled once more and returned a bow. "I'll be happy to." She wrapped an arm around mine and squeezed it as we made our way to the main hall. When I opened the door, one of the monks came to us, out of breather.

"My liege!" He took a deep breathe. "Sorry for the interruption, but your chariot started to yell!" _Yelling? Why would… Oh crap! _I slipped my arm out of Jessica's embrace and took off like a bat out of Hell towards the _Fate._

When I got to my bike, I heard someone screaming through the Mouth of Metal instead of the usual music.

_~***Luc***s an******ello?***~_

It almost sounded like Eddie. I began to look for something- anything –that could let me answer back until Panagron rushed out with a black CB microphone like the ones truckers would use. I found the port where to plug into the Mouth of Metal. I held down the button on the side of the mic. "Eddie, is that you?"

I started to panic while I was listening to the static just waiting for some sort of reply.

…

_~***Lucas? Is that you? Dude man, I'm not Eddie! I'm Mangus!***~_

_I don't know a 'Mangus', but if he's a friend of Eddie's, he's ok for right now. _"But-"

_~***Never mind about that! Lionwhyte's attacking! Eddie said he needs you, like now!*~**_

"I'm-" I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I looked up to see Jessica, with her spear-like shard of hardened spider silk strapped to her back, silently nodding in agreement as I smiled back at her. "-I mean, _We_ are on our way."

As we got onto the _Fate_, I turned to face the old warfather. "Panagron, could you-" He raised he's hand, silencing me instantly.

"I'll stay here to protect the Web. Contact me if you need any reinforcements." I gave a slight nod as I revved the _Fate _into life and willed us off towardsBladehenge.

As we sped down the path, I heard the sound of thunderous roars from behind some of the hill that we were passing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small group of bikers speeding to catch up with us. When they finally got close enough, I felt Jessica's grip tightening on me. I managed to catch a glimpse of who- or what –was about to pass us. All of four of them looked like half-rat dwarves, covered in black fur that had tails that were at least as long as they were tall. Wrapped within their tails were metal-spiked balls that were glowing in a faint orange color like it was filled with lava. Their bikes were longer than the fate with some sort of bloodied skin holding them together.

"What the hell are those things?"

I felt Jessica began to shake. "Tick Choppers, demented little band of demonic bikers are the scouts of the Tainted Coil. Watch out!"

I focused back in front to see all four of the choppers overtook us and began to drop their spheres all over the path. I dodged most of them while the rest began to explode when we got too close to them.

_Enough of this._ I flipped the switch on the handlebars where the Guardian had showed me before; causing the pair of twin Gatling guns to unfold from the sides of the _Fate_ while extending to the natural length with a pair of triggers near where my hands were. As I held down the left trigger, both of the guns started to spin, ready to chew up anything in their path. As soon as the first of the choppers was lined up in front, I squeezed the other trigger, firing a hail of bullets at the demonic target. The bullets riddled the tick with more holes than swish cheese until I aimed just underneath its body. When the bike got hit, both the chopper and its rider went up in a fiery death before it started to drop more and more of their 'tick' bombs to get revenge for its fallen. As the enraged chopper continued its onslaught, the other two had crept slowly to both sides of the _Fate_, herding us into the path of continuous explosions. Jessica's grip stiffened even more as she watched the ticks ride closer and closer, until they rushed in at us, I quickly braked as both crashed into each other in the space we were at and I fired at the tangled mess of flesh and steel until they exploded into a great fire like the first. I managed to get out of the way of the charred mass to see the last tick was about to throw another sphere right where we were going to be, but unfortunately for the tick, it didn't watch where it was going and crashed into the mountain wall.

Jessica's grip began to loosen up a little. "That was close."

"Yea, but they were just stalling us. Looks like someone doesn't want us to help out Eddie and his group."

"There's only one person I know of who would want that." I quickly glanced over my shoulder and nodded.

The ride only took a few minutes to get to Bladehenge. Instead of continuing on the path ahead, we went off-road. Think of it as 'cutting corners' but with more air time.

When we got to the final hill, we saw the sight of Bladehenge, a gigantic crater with a titanic stone piercing the center like a long dart. Eddie's group, Ironheade, had made their home here, surrounding the sword with various sized tents. Near the entrance of the great monument, there was a stage with the same statue that Eddie built for the last band he worked for, was over looking some of the Ironheade fighting against the forces of Lionwhyte. In the midst of the battle, near the stage, stood a pair of towers made out of scaffolding covered from top to bottom with different shirts, each one with a different design of different bands but majority of them have the same picture like Eddie's belt buckle. Both towers had a green eerie light pulsating along their lengths, sending a ball of green energy into the mouth of the statue, causing its eyes to glow faintly with red and an eerie green fog flowing out between its teeth. In the front lines were the men with the enlarged necks- Headbangers –with the Kill Master and his Thunderhogs driving around in the back, using their healing skills as support for the fighters, but in between the two were a group of girls carrying large engine-like guns firing upon the opposing forces. Unfortunately, Lionwhyte's group looks practically the same as the Ironheade's, with a slight difference: most of them were either blonde or wearing a wig. The only ones that didn't fit in with the group were a group of large men with equally enlarged hands. They were about the same height as the raker from before. All they had on were the basic black leather pants with matching shoes, spiked knuckle gloves that covers their entire hand, and an executioner's hood.

_This could get interesting…_ I glanced back at Jessica. "Well, looks like they started the party without us."

She gave a smirk. "I guess we have to crash it then."

"Ok, then. Allons-y!" _I've always wanted to say that._

WE raced down toward the invading side, firing at anything that didn't look a friendly. Through the mass of bodies fighting bodies, I caught a glimpse of familiar steel from a rather large axe. We made our way through the waves of enemies to be the group Eddie was in holding the line. After the great axe slashed through a few more enemies, Eddie looked up and saw us sliding to a halt, leaving a burning trail of Black Tears in our wake. As we got off, Ophelia and the other continued to make their way towards us.

Right before anyone could say anything, Lita blurred out as she was finishing slashing through another 'Hairbanger'- as Eddie calls them –with her halberd. "Took you two long enough!"

I rubbed the back of my neck as everyone else gave Lita an angry glare.

"Sorry it took so long. Along the way, we were attacked by a gang of Tick Choppers." Everyone except me and Jessica widened their eyes in silence as Lita was slipping away before anyone could smack her down.

I turned toward the battlefield lace with the bodies of friend and foes alike. The streak of bubbling Black Tears drew a line between the two warring groups. One of the Hairbangers slowly crept closer to the pure black stripe on the ground, examining its dark ooze by picking up a small portion and rubbed it in between its fingers. At first, nothing happened, as the Hairbanger looked back at his allies and beckoned them forward, until one of Lionwhyte's firing squad screamed in terror as she pointed at the lead hairbanger's arm. The ooze spread itself up his arm, engulfing it with shining darkness. The banger howled in pain as everyone watched the ooze slowly continued to encase the poor man. A couple more Hairbangers tried to free their commander, but ultimately failed, because as soon as they were close enough, the ooze extended tendrils and began to lash out at the attackers. They, too, began to scream in pain as the places where the ooze had struck melted away like acid was splashed on them. As the last parts of the leading hairbanger's body were covered, his screaming slowly quieted down to a whisper before the ooze finished its work. The mass of flesh and ooze splattered down onto the ground in a loud thud. The ooze slowly seeped into the ground leaving only the purely white bones of the late hairbanger. As the last of the ooze disappeared into the ground, the streak of Black Tears evaporated into a black fog before it too disappeared into nothingness. _Holy crap…_

While most of Ironheade stood slack-jawed in awe, those few of the enemy that still had a mind to use bolted away as the others froze in fear, completely oblivious of the cries of their fleeing comrades. We continued to watch Lionwhyte's army run away until a large shadow was cast down on most of the battlefield. I looked up and saw what looks to be a large bird, but as the figure descended, I came to realize it was a man. When he landed, I finally got a good look at him. He stood at least a foot or two taller than Lars. He was wearing a blue denim vest with bleached out stars, a pair of black and pink striped pants, a pair of dark brown cowboy boots with an ascot around his neck and a metal-studded belt hanging onto one side of his hip. He had enough makeup on to rival those prissy Barbie dolls on Jersey Shore. His hair was bleach blonde and went down past his ankles, but that's not what amazed me. He _flew_ with his hair… I mean, come on! I thought the truck sized metal spiders and that music was- literally –a weapon was weird, but I guess I'm the 'Alice' in this Metal-Underland. On top of his monstrous mound of hair held a old captain's hat from some army. At his side, he held what looks to be a microphone stand with a scarf tied just bellow the mic, but I noticed the bottom was a large head from a mace instead of a foot for the stand.

His held out his bare chest as he looked over at the leaders of Ironheade like they were below him while completely ignoring me and Jessica. "I guess poaching my employees wasn't enough for you, but now you had to just scare them away, didn't you?"

At that time, Jessica and the others readied their weapons and focused on the enemy leader as I began to circle around and rested my hand on DeS'tiny's bow. Apparently not completely oblivious, he noticed me slowly move out of his sight and turned to face me. "And who is this, now? I haven't seen you before and obviously not completely hopeless on style unlike these buffoons here."

"I'm Lucas, and let's just say I'm new here." I saw Jessica out of the corner of my eye and motion her to move toward the others, unnoticed. She nodded and silently moved over behind Ophelia and Eddie before the leading consumer of hair products began to introduce himself. "Oh, where are my manners…" _Probably lost in your hair. _"I am General Lionwhyte, leader of the Hair Militia under the Demon Emperor, Doviculus." He gave a bow and a smirk. He straightened back up and raised a hand to his chin while looking at me as a whole as I kept my stare at his.

"Now, my question is: Why are you here with them when you could work with me?" He glided a hand around in front of Eddie and the others, stopping on Jessica.

Lars stepped out while both Ophelia and Lita motioned to stop him. "Don't listen to him, Lucas! He has a serpent's tongue and will backstab you at a moments notice!"

Lionwhyte turned to his side. "Oh, shut up! The big boys are talking now." He then began to circle me, inspecting me. "First off, we'll dye your hair to look more glamorous…" He tugs a little of my hair, then pulls lightly on my coat. "Then, put you in something a little more… purple and glittery. And _this_ of course, will have to go." I noticed him reaching towards DeS'tiny on my back. In a flash, I drew the bow out, spun around and slashed at where his hands were at.

Startled, Lionwhyte jumped back and had both of his hands on the staff of his mic. He straightened up and smirked at me. "Look, if you are smart, you'll dump these pathetic tacky losers and join the glam side."

I pointed the bow at him, instantly causing him to put his hands in a defensive gesture, and began to circle back around him, putting his back in front of the others again. "And if you are smart, you _will_ leave before I cut off more than a few splitting hairs."

At that moment, Eddie, Jessica, and the others jumped into the air and were about to strike down the annoying general where he stood until him, with mic in hand, shrilled out a few notes, mimicking Eddie's earthshaker. The force knocked all of us back as he took flight again. As we began to stir, he flew a little closer. "You just made the second worst mistake in your life. Not accepting my offer is one thing, but threatening to cut off my hair is the first nail in your coffin. Farewell, Lucas. Hope you die with the other sleazy swine." Then, he flew off toward the other side of the continent.

Jessica came over and helped me up as everyone else got to their feet. Lars and Lita walked over with Ophelia and Eddie close behind. "Well done, Lucas. Not many could of withstood Lionwhyte's offerings of allegiance."

I rubbed the back of my neck as Jessica began to hug on my torso. "Well, his first mistake was reaching for my violin." We all chuckled as Lars, Eddie, and Ophelia left to check on the surviving troops of Ironheade. They didn't get too far because as they were leaving, yelling began to come out of Eddie's radio on his belt.

"Yea, Mangus? What's up?'

_*EDDIE! I've been trying to get ahold of you!*_

"Slow down, dude. What's going on?"

_*Lionwhyte sent a large wave, man! We need you, like, NOW!*_

In an instant, Eddie called back for a few more reinforcements as both him and Lars took who was left of the fighters to the front of the two towers. Jessica and I hopped back on the _Fate _and joined Ophelia and Lita to help the Kill Master and his group with the wounded in front of the stage. When the Kill Master spotted us, he gave a sigh of relief. "You two took bloody enough time getting here."

"We kind of ran into traffic." We looked at each other and chuckled.

"Well, get your bloody asses in gear and help!"

Jessica ran over to where Lita and Ophelia stood guard as I ran over where the wounded where surrounded by a few of the Thunderhogs with Kill Master. When I got over there, I heard someone calling for me.

"LUCAS!" I looked up and saw someone that was on top of the stage, waving their hands. "Catch this!" The person threw down another radio in front of me. I picked it up and dusted all of the dirt off of it. Then, the man called through the radio.

_~***Lucas! Glad you came, man!***~_

I rolled my eyes and focused back on the wounded. Kill Master walked over to me while still staring at the group of wounded. Most of them had only a few cuts and bruises while some of them were missing limbs, leaving blood everywhere. "The small things were a piece off take, you know: Internal bleeding, cuts, scrapes and the like. But we are losing momentum and very soon we won't be doing any healing for a while."

"Does your group have enough power to focus on one person?"

He threw his hands in the air. "Yea, we do. But there isn't enough time to heal them one at a time!"

I gave him a cold stare as I drew out DeS'tiny and got ready to play. "Then, leave them to me."

The Kill Master finally got what I was saying and ran to gather the others to focus on me instead of the others, leaving the ones who were still conscious worrying. When I felt the glowing power of healing on me, I cleared my mind and focused on _'The Unforgiven' _while I closed my eyes. I felt the power of DeS'tiny combined with the now-awakened bond with the Pool. I slightly opened my eyes to see the familiar tendrils coming out of DeS'tiny has changed from the darkness of void to a eerie purple color with a miasma coming out of each tendril. They slowly reached out to the group, freaking out most of them in the process. When they finally touched the group, I instantly felt everyone's pain simultaneously and dropped to my knees but continued to play as the magic from Kill Master and the others finally kicked in. I managed to look over and saw Jessica was turning around with the others. I looked back at the wounded and was amazed as I watched the tendrils completely healing the group. Limbs were re-growing. The unconscious was waking up. And all the blood was disappearing. When the last one was fully healed, I stopped playing with the air knocked out of me. Jessica rushed over to me, leaving both of the female warriors awe-stricken. I saw the Kill Master walked over to me and helped me up.

"Well, you are bloody full of surprises." He gave me back DeS'tiny and its bow that I dropped. Jessica practically jumped on me as she squeezed me to death.

I held on to her. "It's ok. It just was a lot to take in. I'm fine now."

She nodded slightly as she released me. She grabbed her weapon and ran to join Eddie and the others. The Kill Master patted my shoulder. "She picked a good one." He turned back and joined the rest of the Thunderhogs- AARRGGGHH!-Eddie screamed and dropped down in pain. I looked over and saw Ophelia was with him and searching on his back for something. Whatever it was, it was gone now. And with that, he stood back up, rolled his shoulders and went back into battle, leaving Ophelia staring at him.

I returned DeS'tiny back into its sheath when a pulsing pain riddled across my body. I came down on my knees, trying to bide the pain. It felt like time was slowing down. The group fighting, people passing me by, even the wildlife around seemed to be going an eighth of their normal speed. I couldn't hear anything. Then, I heard a voice without a body. The same one from the nightmare:

_**GiVe iN tO ThE PaIn.**_

_**CoMe aNd sWiM WiThIn mE!**_

All of a sudden, a tap on my shoulder seemed to bring me out of the pain and emptiness. I looked back to see Kill Master with a horrified look on his face. I stood back up covered in sweat. "What in the bloody Hell happened to you?!"

I wiped some of the sweat off my brow and took off my coat. "What do you mean?"

"I mean one minute you were about to head toward the battle and the next you were kneeing on the ground wincing in pain and your back was bubbling."

I reached around to feel the small of my back only to meet a wall of cold wetness. But something was off… my back seemed colder than the rest, not because of the sweat but deeper. I glanced back at the Kill Master who still has a concerned look on his face. "I will be ok. Thanks."

As he went back to his bike, I noticed that I felt lighter and stronger. I looked down and saw that my veins had to begin to pulse into a violet color. I pushed all the questions I had to the back of my mind as I raced over to the others. I saw that the enemies changed from the 'Hair Militia' to mostly the ones with the giant hands. I stood there watching the Militia was pushing back Ironheade. _We are outgunned… There's got to be- _

In an instant, a hail of barbed spears shot out, striking down the enemy from a far. I fallowed the trail to see that it came from over one of the hills near the first tower. At a closer inspection, I saw Panagron leading a small army towards me. Panagron and a few others rushed over to me while a small horde of Soul Kissers mob-rushed towards the Hair Militia. "Wha…?"

"We heard Lionwhyte's monstrous shriek and, fearing the worst, gathered a small army to come to your aid." By a small army, he meant himself, a few of the battle nuns, about twelve slender demonic torturers with four large gagged minions with a lot of the barbed spears sticking out of its back following in tow- Panagron preceded to tell me that they're called 'Punisher Parties' -, and a small army of Soul Kissers.

I watched them started to attack the Militia, dumbfounded. "I thought they couldn't spawn any."

"I said that they _chose_ not to. They wanted to prove themselves to you." With the new party in the fray, the battle lasted only a few minutes, but not without our losses. While Ironheade didn't suffer any losses, we lost one Punisher Party and most of the Soul Kissers.

When the last man was slain, Lionwhyte landed in front of the celebrating alliance. "Oh, enough of this! I never liked this place anyways. And you!" He pointed his mic at me and the forces of the Fated. "Well, aren't you full of surprises? Not only did you piss me off, but you managed to convince some of the Coil to join you, too. Ooh, wait till Doviculus hears about this!" He turned to face the group as a whole again. "You! All of you will regret what you have started here!" And with a humph, he flew off towards his tower.

Lars waded through the two factions as he watched Lionwhyte fly off towards wherever he lives. He turned back around and looked through his army as my group began to wade through Ironheade to join me and Panagron, who just stopped by my side. Lars stiffened up as he gave his victory speech… "For too long we have lived in pits, waiting for good fortune to trickle down to us…"

I didn't stay for long as I started to move towards the _Fate_ with the small army in tow when Jessica saw us and ran to catch my arm, hugging it to death. We stood there watching Lars give his speech in silence when Panagron spoke out first. "What now, my liege? Rumors said that Lars and the rest of Ironheade will march onto Lionwhyte's tower."

I looked over at the small army as the healthy tend to the less fortunate for support more than anything else. I stared back at Panagron. "Take the sick and wounded back to the Web. I'll ride with Ironheade." Before they could move an inch, I stopped them and gave them a bow. "I thank you all for helping for we would not have won without you all. I can't ask anymore from you all since you sacrificed everything." I expected an argument to start, but as I looked back up they instead kneeled in respected. They stayed like that until the younger warfather stood.

"We all recognized you all the leader of the Fated. We will follow you till the end of days." I stood there, in awe, seeing that my mother's faction, _my_ faction, was all together.

When they all stood back up, Panagron brought up a hand to his mouth and whistled for someone. Coming out around the back of the stage was Niobi and with her in tow a large carriage and came over to the group. As the healthy helped the wounded on board, the old warfather stood next to me. "You know I will be accompanying you on this, right?"

"You would still come even if I ordered you to go with them, wouldn't you?"

Panagron chuckled as he went to help the others as I turned and saw Jessica leaning on the _Fate_ with her arms crossed. "You were going to ask me to stay, aren't you?"

I shook my head. "No, I wasn't."

She pushed off and pointed a finger at me. "Ha! I knew it! It's because I'm a girl- Wait, what?"

I got closer and hugged her as she was still trying to figure me out. "I wasn't going to ask you to stay. If you actually listen, I would miss you terribly. But if you ever got hurt because of me, I could not ever forgive myself." She began to relax as she returned the hug.

We stayed like this until Panagron tapped on my shoulder with a pair of nuns standing behind him. "All the wounded are on board." I nodded and released Jessica from my embrace.

I went over to the opened window of the carriage. "You all rest up. I will send a message if I need anymore help." They all nodded at me as I made my way to the front to see Niobi.

"I'm sorry that I missed the birth of the young ones. I will make it up to you when all of this blows over. Take care of them as well." I gestured to the carriage as she lowered her head and nudged at me with a worrying expression on her face.

_~ Take care of Jessica and be safe, Sir Knight**.** ~_

I chuckled as I rubbed the space between her sets of eyes as Jessica came up and said her goodbyes. "I will."

I turned back at my little part of the Fated as Niobi made her way back to the Web when a thought just popped in my head. "Um, yeah… What are you going to ride? I don't think our neighbors are ready to share the same space, much less a ride, with demons. No offence, of course."

Panagron waved a hand in the air. "That, my young sir, has already been dealt with." He whistled twice more. A loud roar came from behind the hills. A car, much like Eddie's but larger, was being pulled by a pair of metal horses with burning red eyes and wisp of purple fire for manes, tails, and around the hooves, leaving a trail of the same flames as it went. The car-like chariot had a design of a reaper holding a lantern that was bleeding dark ooze as it was lit with a darkened light on its side while the symbol for the faction was on the hood and on the crest of the horses' harnesses. Panagron sat upon the driver's side with the reins in hand as the nuns took their seats in the back. "It is called _The Nightmare of Fortuna._ It was the Fated's first attempt at recreating a vehicle like the _Fate_. Unfortunately, it wasn't what we wanted at first, but it will serve our purpose."

A whistle came from behind me as Eddie stepped closer to the chariot, rubbing the side. "Wow! This looks awesome!" He looked back over to me. "Did you build this?"

I shook my head no when Panagron answered. "No, this is one of the items he inherited from the previous leader."

Eddie looked back at him and nodded. "Cool. I take it you will be joining us to march toward Lionwhyte?"

I said yes as I drew in Jessica when she giggled. Eddie pumped a fist, claiming that this will be the best tour ever. He proceeded toward the stage to take it apart to build a tour bus for Ironheade. In about a few hours, the bus was finished as Eddie and a man, with long black hair wearing a tan vest with a white work crew shirt underneath; faded blue jeans; black workers shoes; with a backstage crew pass and a pair of headphones with a built-in mic, named Mangus was packing up all the supplies for all of Ironheade onto the titanic machine of a bus.

Everyone in Ironheade started to get on as they glanced over at Panagron and the nuns when they pulled along side the giant tour bus. The only ones didn't get on the bus was the Kill Master and Eddie. While the Kill Master drove along side Panagron, Eddie summoned up the _Deuce_ and jumped in acting as convoy patrol.

I looked at the group as a whole as Jessica loaded on the _Fate_, wondering what lies in store after we dealt with the King of Hairspray.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait. Life's finally caught up with my family because I'm currently helping out my uncle survive cancer. He's doing great right now but they couldn't take it all out. Please wish him the best!**

**On another note: This finally reached over 1,000 views! I never had thought that this would happen.**

** Reconomous and HidanKakuzuFanGirl: Thanks for the reviews!**

_**~Please Read and Review~**_


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